[TUT] Flash your ROM / Radio via microSD

[Snarksneeze]

I've been asked this a few times and I actually had to get help the first time I tried it, so here's my tutorial on how to flash a ROM or Radio image using your microSD Card. I personally use this method because my own computer runs Linux. I could probably boot up to Windows from time to time, but that would be like cheating on my wife; I just can't bring myself to do it if I can avoid it at all

A few of us old-timers to HTC are so used to our personal little tricks we use that we forget that newer users haven't learned them yet. I'm expecting a few people to say, "Oh yeah, we already knew that!" but perhaps one or two will instead learn from it and appreciate it.

So, without further ado:

Different chefs use different methods when naming their ROM or Radio images. You must rename the image to "LEOIMG.nbh", since this is the only recognized file name the bootloader will accept. (note: Some people are reporting that the file name must be capitalized, or it will not work. When named exactly as above, it has always worked for me!)

1. Place the LEOIMG.nbh on a 8GB or smaller microSD card.
2. Remove the battery cover and press the Reset button.
3. Hold the Volume Down and End Call (power) buttons at the same time.
4. As soon as "Searching..." appears on the screen, release the Volume Down button.
5. ROM will flash. Be sure to hard-reset afterwards to prevent weird errors (as usual).

Now, in case you are wondering about the specifics:

1. Remember to put the file on the "root" of the device. This means you can't put it in a folder. I am using an 8GB Class 2 card for flashing. I would recommend using a 1GB Class 6, but it's not necessary. It may be possible with a higher class 16GB card, but I haven't tried. Our Class 2 that came with the phone never works, though I don't rightly know why. [update]souljaboy wrote in and said: "it doesn't work because a fat32 is needed and by default the card is formatted fat, I think you should mention that, it worked for me!" Thanks, souljaboy!
2. The reset button is a small red or yellow spot just below the slot for the microSD card. You could also remove and replace the battery; the important thing is to shut your phone off and restart it.
3. Pressing Volume Down and End Call (or Power) is the recommended way to enter the bootloader. If you press the Volume Up and Volume Down at the same time, you will enter the "Hard Reset" option instead.
4. If "Searching..." does not appear, you either do not have a compatible card in the phone, or you are not holding the right buttons. If you hold the "Volume Down" button past this point, you will see a message that says, "Press the Power Button to upgrade your phone." Releasing the "Volume Down" button at this point may or may not work, I had to release it before. If you release the "Power Button" now, your phone will simply reboot without flashing.
5. ROM flashing via SD is much safer than via USB, since you don't have to worry about accidentally unplugging the cord or an issue with your PC, such as a crash or power failure.

---Added 05/21/10 as suggested by zelendel (Thanks for the sticky!)

If you are flashing an "Official" ROM direct from HTC or T-Mobile, you will more than likely over-write your SPL (Second Program Loader). This means, even if you have HSPL installed now, you could be reverted back to SSPL, rendering you unable to flash custom ROMs.

To make matters worse, if you flash an ROM higher than 2.10 and you attempt to install the current (as of 5/21/10) HSPL, you will brick your phone. Yeah, it's bad.

So, assuming you have flashed an official ROM over 2.10 via the SD card and you decide you want a custom ROM, follow these simple directions:

1. (You do not have to have your phone connected to your PC for these steps)
2. Download the "Official" ROM from here. (Thanks to zelendel for the upload!)
3. Follow the instructions above to flash your phone with this image.
4. Once you phone has fully booted, I recommend doing an extra hard-reset.
5. Next, visit mskip's thread to download the latest HSPL and flash that (you can flash it either via RUU or via microSD).
6. If done properly you should now be able to once again flash custom ROMs. Congratulations!

Hopefully someone will find this useful. If you have any issues, reply to this thread and I or some other wonderful xda member will try and sort things out.

Happy Flashing!

 

[sirphunkee]

Awesome guide man, keep 'em coming!!

Bump and sicky request!

 

[samsamuel]

nice plain guide, good job.
just worth adding a warning that flashing stock roms from sd card overwrites the hspl/spl, and some spl's aren't covered by hspl, so you can get stuck.
currently i think tmous 2.02 will flash an spl that will prevent further flashing, and 2.13 will require the spl to be downgraded using the 2.10 stock before you can re apply hspl.

 

[Snarksneeze]

nice plain guide, good job.
just worth adding a warning that flashing stock roms from sd card overwrites the hspl/spl, and some spl's aren't covered by hspl, so you can get stuck.
currently i think tmous 2.02 will flash an spl that will prevent further, flashing, and 2.13 will require the spl to be downgraded using the 2.10 stock before you can re apply hspl.

You are right, it's worth mentioning, thank you!

I thought about writing that in, but then I remembered the sticky "Read before posting" had the links to HSPL that shows how to restore stock SSPL by flashing via SD. I didn't want to re-write other guides that have been serving the newer users for some time now

But if the Mods decide this is sticky-worthy I'll paste your quote and a link to your post in the first post.

 

[jiggahj]

ok

i have a mac so im guessing the only way for me to reflash/upgrade my rom would be boot camp? i want to update to the new 2.13 dont really care about not flashing other roms ill wait and stick it out, but what do i need to do to the file once i down load the file do i unzip and send to my device after i rename it ?

You don’t have permission to view “T-Mobile_HD2_MR Software_2.13.531.1.exe”. is what i get from the website, so i guess im stuck waiting till i can do it ona pc ?

 

[Snarksneeze]

i have a mac so im guessing the only way for me to reflash/upgrade my rom would be boot camp? i want to update to the new 2.13 dont really care about not flashing other roms ill wait and stick it out, but what do i need to do to the file once i down load the file do i unzip and send to my device after i rename it ?

You don’t have permission to view “T-Mobile_HD2_MR Software_2.13.531.1.exe”. is what i get from the website, so i guess im stuck waiting till i can do it ona pc ?

Yeah, the problem here is that the "exe" is the way they packaged this one, which is unfortunate.

For me, I can use Wine to execute win32 apps. You could probably do it as well, since Mac is based on UNIX. I found a tutorial here, but I don't know how well it will work or how old it is. Give it a shot and holla back at us, to let us know how it went.

 

[jiggahj]

word

i been trying to get this update since the "leaked" release my friend didnt want me doing it on his comp for what ever reason. so i was gonna partition my hdd and start doing it that way but ill give this a shot ... ill be back soon

 

[jiggahj]

ok

i cant just unzip it in my root and do it from there after i download it ?

this is really long and doesnt tell me how to install this on my fone im just downloading and reading a bunch of crap that hardly makes any sense

 

[jiggahj]

waste of time

---> Computing dependencies for wine-devel
---> Building mesa
Error: Target org.macports.build returned: shell command " cd "/opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_x11_mesa/work/Mesa-7.8.1" && /usr/bin/make -j2 default INSTALL_DIR=/opt/local RC_CFLAGS="-arch x86_64 -arch i386" CC="/usr/bin/gcc-4.2 " CXX="/usr/bin/g++-4.2 " " returned error 2
Command output: Making sources for darwin
make[3]: Nothing to be done for `default'.
make[3]: Nothing to be done for `default'.
make[3]: Nothing to be done for `default'.
/bin/sh ../../../bin/mklib -o GL -linker '/usr/bin/gcc-4.2 ' -ldflags ' -lXplugin -framework ApplicationServices -framework CoreFoundation' \
-major 1 -minor 2 \
-install ../../../lib -id /opt/local/lib/libGL.1.dylib \
-L/opt/local/lib -L/opt/local/lib -lX11 -lXext -lm -lpthread apple_cgl.o apple_glx.o apple_glx_context.o apple_glx_drawable.o apple_glx_pbuffer.o apple_glx_pixmap.o apple_glx_surface.o apple_visual.o apple_xgl_api.o apple_xgl_api_additional.o apple_xgl_api_read.o apple_xgl_api_stereo.o apple_xgl_api_viewport.o appledri.o ../clientattrib.o ../compsize.o ../glcontextmodes.o glx_empty.o glx_error.o ../glx_pbuffer.o ../glx_query.o ../glxcmds.o ../glxcurrent.o ../glxext.o ../glxextensions.o glxreply.o ../pixel.o ../xfont.o
mklib: Making Darwin shared library: libGL.1.2.dylib
ld: library not found for -lXplugin
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
ld: library not found for -lXplugin
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
lipo: can't open input file: /var/tmp//ccfmBffL.out (No such file or directory)
mklib: Installing libGL.1.2.dylib libGL.1.dylib libGL.dylib in ../../../lib
mv: rename libGL.1.2.dylib to ../../../lib/libGL.1.2.dylib: No such file or directory
make[2]: *** [../../../lib/libGL.dylib] Error 1
make[1]: *** [subdirs] Error 1
make: *** [default] Error 1

Error: The following dependencies failed to build: mesa ncurses ncursesw openssl xorg-libXcomposite xorg-compositeproto xorg-libXcursor xorg-renderproto xrender xorg-libXinerama xorg-xineramaproto xorg-libXrandr xorg-randrproto xorg-libXxf86vm xorg-xf86vidmodeproto
Error: Status 1 encountered during processing.
Before reporting a bug, first run the command again with the -d flag to get complete output.

is all i get when trying to install wine in terminal have downloaded everything i needed/it said too soo i dont know what the problem is

 

[Snarksneeze]

I'm sorry you are having trouble. Wish I had the answer for you, but I don't have a Mac.

I can definitely say that you are missing some crucial library files, which is what is causing the Wine fail. If you can find the Mac part of the Wine Forums, I am sure someone there has a solution to your problems.

On the bright side, a few of the chefs over on the T-Mobile USA HD2 ROM Development branch have been churning out custom ROMs based on the 2.13 release. Maybe you could give one of those a try?

 

[atlboy4321]

Help

Help I Cant Connect To ActiveSync Via Usb ( But My Phone Still Is Able To Charge Via Usb Thru My Comp.) & I Want To Upgrage My Hd2 To The New Stock Rom 2.13 (Because All The Freezing!) I Want To Know Is There Any Way I Can Do This Thru My Sd Card Or ActiveSync Bluetooth??? Because I Have Been Seeing On The Internet That You Cant Do It Without HSPL But I Can Get HSPL Without Being Able To Connect My Hd2 Via Usb !

 

[Snarksneeze]

Okay, follow these directions:

1. Visit this page and grab the latest file (currently 2.13)
2. Unzip the file and open the *.exe that is inside
3. When you see "Welcome to the InstallShield Wizard for RUU" click "Next"
4. Minimize the Installation window
5. Depending on your version of Windows, the next part will be different, so I'll just tell you what you need to know:
6. Use the "Find Files" option in the "Start" menu to search for all files that end in .nbh
7. You should be able to locate "RUU_signed.nbh" in the C:\users\yourusername\Temp folder, but it will be inside a generated folder there. Depending on your version of Windows, the file may be located in a different temporary folder.

Once you have the file, rename it to "LEOIMG.nbh" and move it to your microSD card and follow the rest of the instructions from post #1.

This ROM will flash a new SPL, so if you plan to install custom ROMs in the future, you will need to re-install HSPL.

Because the forum only allows a normal user to upload .zip files 8MB or smaller, I can't attach the file I got using this method.

If someone would be willing to extract it and post it via RS or other, it would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Snarksneeze]

Just added an extra section to the first post detailing how to fix the problem with your SPL being over-written when flashing official ROMs via microSD.

Oh, and thanks to zelendel for the sticky!

(now i haz tu stickies! )

 

[eckox09]

i update my tmo hd2 with the official rom from tmo because of my phone freezing so much and i just wanted to know if in the near future with there be a hspl compatible to the new update without out downgrading?thanks in advance

 

[Snarksneeze]

i update my tmo hd2 with the official rom from tmo because of my phone freezing so much and i just wanted to know if in the near future with there be a hspl compatible to the new update without out downgrading?thanks in advance

That's a question you'd have to ask the HSPL author (mskip), but I would have to say that I doubt it. The first one was very difficult to create and as long as the hardware stays the same there will be no need to start over.

Now if they do a hardware change and then release an upgraded version of the OS as well, I am sure that mskip or someone else could be persuaded to help out.

 

[eckox09]

but do i need to have hspl to install any roms that are going to be released by anyone for the new update?

 

[samsamuel]

This means, even if you have HSPL installed now, you could be reverted back to SSPL, rendering you unable to flash custom ROMs.

do you mean 'reverted back to SPL'
SPL is Stock
SSPL is one shot hacked SPL
HSPL is permanently hacked SPL
Dont mean to sound picky, just trying to avoid confusion

To make matters worse, if you flash an ROM higher than 2.10 and you attempt to install the current (as of 5/21/10) HSPL, you will brick your phone. Yeah, it's bad.

no, you just get stuck at spl 2.10.0000 until you downgrade. HSPL1024 fails when you run it, but no problem, just an error.
Bricked is a very scary word, and should be avoided, especially when it isn't bricked.
(UNless something haschanged in teh past day or so? There are a few threads where poeple have tried to install HSPL1024 onto SPL 2.10.0000, , no one has said anything about a brick, only that HSPL fails.)

 

[Snarksneeze]

do you mean 'reverted back to SPL'
SPL is Stock
SSPL is one shot hacked SPL
HSPL is permanently hacked SPL
Dont mean to sound picky, just trying to avoid confusion

no, you just get stuck at spl 2.10.0000 until you downgrade. HSPL1024 fails when you run it, but no problem, just an error.
Bricked is a very scary word, and should be avoided, especially when it isn't bricked.
(UNless something haschanged in teh past day or so? There are a few threads where poeple have tried to install HSPL1024 onto SPL 2.10.0000, , no one has said anything about a brick, only that HSPL fails.)

I have not actually flashed a stock via SD, only customs, so I've never had a problem. Haven't read about anyone actually bricking their phones with HSPL yet, but I did read a thread where someone was asking about why it would.

Thanks for the clarifications

 

[pandaxownage]

so you do
Extract the *.exe file inside and double-click to run
Click "Next" when it asks if you want to install
STOP, minimize the window
Using your computer's "Search" program, look in your temporary folder (mine was C:\users\shane\temp\xxxx) for any file with the extension *.nbh (the file should be named ruu_signed.nbh)
Copy this extracted file to a compatible microSD card and flash using the directions at the top of this post.
that then

You must rename the image to "LEOIMG.nbh", since this is the only recognized file name the bootloader will accept.
Place the LEOIMG.nbh on a 8GB or smaller microSD card.
Remove the battery cover and press the Reset button.
Hold the Volume Down and End Call (power) buttons at the same time.
As soon as "Searching..." appears on the screen, release the Volume Down button.
ROM will flash. Be sure to hard-reset afterwards to prevent weird errors (as usual).

that right?
and also im running windows 7 and when i run the install for the 2.10.0 it said extract RUU_signed but when i look at my temp folder, it isnt there
do you know why?

 

[samsamuel]

instead of running it and then looking in temp, just right click the .exe and choose"extract here"