Questions about unlocking

808phone said:

1: I run CM11 which is 4.4.
2: Don't know but not sure if there is a 4.4 ROM with Sense 5.
3: The boot.img is in the ROM zip - just unzip it and the boot.img is there. When you are S-OFF the boot.img is flashed with the zip. Otherwise you have to do it manually if you are not S-OFF.

I am no expert but one thing I know - life got a lot easier being S-OFF with the HTC ONE S.

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Rapier said:

Let's take one by one...

1. Yes. Currently only AOSP ROMs are with Android 4.4.2, there's no Sense based one (but it's been working on it)
2. Well, that's a tricky question...You don't need S-Off for sense 5.x BUT...only ROM with sense 5.5 is Liberty (by bilal_liberty). If you're not S-Off you can't flash radios. If you can't flash radios, you will not have HSPA/HSPA+ mobile data connection with that ROM (and probably with sense 6 and 4.4.2 ROM also). You will get maximum 3G (UMTS) mobile data with your current radio. On the other hand, if you decide to try an AOSP ROM, you won't have that problem there. You can be S-On and have everything working
3. You have to flash boot.img only if you're S-On. Maybe it's better if you read what S-On/S-Off means. On short, if you're S-On, some partitions are read only and you cannot write to them in recovery...most important the radio partition and the kernel/boot partition. So if you're S-On you can't flash the radio and you can't flash the kernel. Kernel has several components (I try to make a simple explanation not entering in the details): modules, ramdisk and the kernel itself. I'll take them one by one:
- modules: most are incorporated in the ROM and have the extension .so. These files are flashed on the device in the /system partition along with the ROM, in recovery. You don't need to be S-Off to have those installed
- ramdisk & kernel: they're both packed in that boot.img and they're generically referred to as "kernel". These are written in a special partition that is read-only for S-On devices while in recovery. Kernel partition is in write-mode only in fastboot. Therefore you must be S-Off to be able to write kernel from recovery OR, you have to write it from fastboot if you're S-On

So, when you flash a ROM ZIP, the install script writes the modules along with the rest of the ROM since those resides on the /system partition then tries to write also the boot.img. But in case you're S-On, it can't. So the only way to do it is from fastboot where you separately flash the boot.img

Now as I give you some info, take some time and read it (TWICE). Then take some time and look for the tutorials here. First thing you should do is to unlock your bootloader via HTC Dev site. Then you can install a recovery and make S-Off (I personally used for that Rumrunner but it's your call)

Before doing anything, install Android SDK and make sure it's properly installed and the drivers are working. You should have a functional ADB/fastboot for any of the above.

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Rapier said:

You don't have to upgrade the firmware since you're on the latest official one. 2.16 is an unofficial leaked firmware and you only need it if you want to flash MaximusHD or MagioRom

You don't need entire SDK but I thought it's easier since is an install package for that. Of course, if you don't build for Android, you don't need the libraries, just the tools

Sent from nowhere over the air...

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Rapier said:

For firmware ZIPs you can flash in recovery AFTER you make S-Off, check HERE. For S-Off I used Rumrunner cause it seems to me much easier and without so many steps...it's something like a one-click operation

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Rapier said:

I didn't checked the MaximusHD tutorial but I strongly suggest you to just flash the firmware zip if you want to do an upgrade/downgrade of the firmware. Most tutorials assume you're initial S-Off and include also some steps for how to acquire this or going through RUUs.

OK..I've read the MaximusHD tutorial, it's pretty much identical with the one made by Flashalot...so the answer is YES, you can use it and after that you would have hboot 2.16. Please also note that a different recovery must be used with 2.16 ROMs. But you'll have that in the MaximusHD instructions as well

NO, you can't run or flash ROMs made for 2.15 firmware after doing this. You should downgrade the firmware to 2.15 first, by using the instructions and the firmware ZIP from the thread I've linked

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Rapier said:

Oh...you like to ask soo many questions don't you? All these questions are already answered in the threads, why don't you check them?

The main difference between 2.15 and 2.16 hboot/firmware is the partition map. On 2.16 there is no separation between the sdcard and data and you get a single big space for both. This makes more space available to data and sdcard looks bigger (12 GB instead of 10 GB). That's a brief description not entering in details. ROMs made for 2.15 will work on 2.16 and the other way around BUT with issues. Mainly it is about the sdcard size that is not available at all or has an incorect size (48 MB instead of 12/10 GB). So even if your 2.15 ROM is working...try to check if the sdcard is mounted and what space you have on it

So all these being said, your understanding of the word "works" is different from the one of the devs. For them (or for anyone else), a "working" ROM does not mean only it boots, but it's also have all the parts available including sdcard mountable and available on it's entire space, not truncated to 48 MB or not mountable at all.

Now about why some sense 5 ROMs work with 2.15 and some don't. Because some ROMs are based on the leaked 2.16 firmware and those ROMs need the new partition map to properly work. The ones that are working on 2.15 are usually ports or builds made for the standard official HTC firmware.

Link for recoveries compatible with 2.16 hboot you can find in the OP of each 2.16 ROM

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