# Super confused about flashing rom/radio



## fhernandote (Sep 4, 2011)

Well I want to flash my rooted phone but I'm not sure how to get to the recovery screen, and I have no idea on what files to download and how to use/install them.

I rooted it using the Revolution method 2 or 3 weeks ago.

I want to flash my rom to CM7, mainly since I hear it is pretty fast and snappy and it gives great battery life. Or is there another rom that is fast and gives great battery life? I don't use widgets and I use launcher pro/swipe icons to keep my screen looking sleek and simple. So something that will compliment that will be nice. any other suggestions?

What else do I need besides that ROM? Do I also need a specific radio? What else would I need to do?

I already manually backed up my SD card onto my computer. And I have Titanium back up pro as well.

Oh first post too, Hello :]


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## litso (Jun 7, 2011)

Hey there, I'm going to try to help you out with this one. As a first thought, however, I just wanted to let your know that CM7 is still a little unstable on the Thunderbolt. I personally use it exclusively, and I love it, but there are still a couple of irritating bugs with it that you should be aware of. Its very quick, and you can get some great battery life from it, but if you don't want to deal with bugs (I'm guessing this is one of your first foray's into ROM flashing) you may want to look at some of the Sense ROMs. I can't believe I just recommended Sense to someone, but I just don't want you to get burned early on in the experience. CM7 is an AOSP (Android Open Source Project) ROM, and its absolutely fantastic, but there is a lot of work involved in getting a new device working with AOSP.

So, disclaimer aside, here is a step by step for flashing CM7 on your Thunderbolt.

You'll want to go ahead and back up anything you want to transfer over after you flash the new ROM. SMS, app data, etc. because we will be wiping all of this. After you flash the new ROM it will be like setting your phone up for the first time. If you use Titanium backup you can restore some app data and whatnot, but restoring anything CAN CAUSE PROBLEMS! Just be aware of that fact.

If you haven't already, download ROM Manager from the market. You will want to update Clockwork Recovery to the latest version through ROM Manager before going any further.

First you need to flash a new radio. You can find them in the sticky thread on this forum. There are actually 2 radios, one for LTE and one for CDMA, you'll need to flash both. Here are links for the latest versions: CDMA & LTE. You should flash these one at a time. They will both be named PG05IMG.zip, you need to keep the name exactly the same and place the file on your SD card. Don't put it in a folder or anything.

Now reboot into HBOOT by powering off your device, then power it back on while holding VOLUME DOWN. You will see a white screen, and it will automatically scan your SD card for a file named PG05IMG.zip. When it detects the file it will ask you if you want to apply the update. Press VOLUME UP to flash the first radio. Boot your phone back up (if you are on the stock ROM you will not have a signal!), remove the first PG05IMG.zip from your SD card and place the second one there. Repeat the process to flash the second radio.

Boot your phone back up and remove any PG05IMG.zip from your SD card, or rename it. This step is important as it can be a pain to fix your phone if something goes wrong and you still have this file on your SD card

Now that you have the appropriate radios you will need to flash the ROM and GAPPs. Download CM7 RC1.7 and the latest Gapps. Place them on your SD card. You can put these inside a folder if you like.

If you are on the stock ROM you will need to power your phone down and boot back into HBOOT (make sure you DO NOT HAVE PG05IMG.zip ON YOUR SD CARD). This time since there is no PG05IMG.zip you will be able to select menu items. Choose the option for 'recovery'.

Once you are in recovery the first thing you should do is make a nandroid backup. Do this simply by choosing the Backup option. Navigate the menus using volume up and down, the home button to select, and the back or power button to go back.

After the backup is complete, choose the option to 'Wipe data/factory reset', then 'Wipe Cache'. Next go into the Advanced menu and select 'Wipe Dalvik Cache'.

Next choose Install ZIP from SD card (NOT install update.zip), then choose 'Choose zip to install from SD card'. I may have some the exact names wrong, but it should be pretty easy to figure out which one I mean. First select the file for CM7 1.7 and flash it. Next follow the same steps for the Gapps.

Back out to the top menu and select 'Reboot'

Now you're running CM7! The first boot up will take some time, just wait on it. As long as you see the CM7 logo and it is animating just let it be. It could take 5 minutes or more. If you get stuck at the white HTC screen and it never goes past, or your phone just constantly reboots itself you'll need to go back into recovery and wipe everything and flash it again. If this continues to happen it could mean that your downloads were corrupt, and you'll want to redownload the ROM file and try again. You can always restore the nandroid backup you made. You can also mount USB storage from the 'Mounts' menu option in recovery so that you can place a new file on your SD card.


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## haplyrootd2 (Aug 13, 2011)

litso said:


> Hey there, I'm going to try to help you out with this one. As a first thought, however, I just wanted to let your know that CM7 is still a little unstable on the Thunderbolt. I personally use it exclusively, and I love it, but there are still a couple of irritating bugs with it that you should be aware of. Its very quick, and you can get some great battery life from it, but if you don't want to deal with bugs (I'm guessing this is one of your first foray's into ROM flashing) you may want to look at some of the Sense ROMs. I can't believe I just recommended Sense to someone, but I just don't want you to get burned early on in the experience. CM7 is an AOSP (Android Open Source Project) ROM, and its absolutely fantastic, but there is a lot of work involved in getting a new device working with AOSP.
> 
> So, disclaimer aside, here is a step by step for flashing CM7 on your Thunderbolt.
> 
> ...


GREAT job litso! I wish when I started this rooting thing and flashing roms these directions were out there. I just had to read all the blogs I could find and put it together myself. Hopefully he copies and pastes this in a word document so he can refer back to it until he gets comfortable doing this. GREAT REPLY. Thanks for taking the time to spell it out for him. This just solidifies my thinking the android community is a great place.


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## MrKleen (Jul 14, 2011)

Great job Litso!


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## Grizzly420 (Jul 31, 2011)

Helz yea great job man love seeing people helping each other learn


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## thepolishguy (Jun 6, 2011)

I agree--great write up. I would like to make a small correction. Not to be an ass- but bc I don't want the OP to accidentally select something he did not mean to select. In recovery I believe the power button selects, it does not "go back" (unless you toggle down to go back with the volume rocker and then select go back with the power button).

I would also like to thank you for your reply Litso bc I did not actually know that the soft keys even functioned in recovery.


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## FSRBIKER (Jun 9, 2011)

One important step is to verify the md5 of the rom you download, I use AFV by Scarey Alien from the market. If a dev doesn't take the extra step to post an md5 to check then I would highly suggest you don't flash their work.


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## fhernandote (Sep 4, 2011)

Thanks man, but I kind of figured it on my own as i go kind of way. But the way you described it and the way I did it are pretty darn similar. The only differences are...
I backed up my SD card first, What is saved on it? Are my contacts and app data saved on it?
Then I did a back up through the recovery
I then wiped/formatted, 
Installed google app then I installed the cm7

I finally installed the 2.5 MD2 radio, Everything runs fine and dandy almost just like my stock root but I have lost all of my non facebook contacts and all of my SMS messages but I still have my pictures and music saved. Is there a way to retrieve my contacts and texts from my copy of my sd card? or have I lost them all for good?


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## Jaxidian (Jun 6, 2011)

Just a thought: you might want to flash an older version of recovery from rom manager. The 5.x.x.x versions have had major issues (mostly with backups/restores). The 4.x.x.x version in rom manager is what I would recommend for the time being. As of now, rom manager's latest recovery is up to 5.0.1.0 and is still having problems.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk


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## HalosGhost (Jun 29, 2011)

litso said:


> I can't believe I just recommended Sense to someone, but I just don't want you to get burned early on in the experience. CM7 is an AOSP (Android Open Source Project) ROM, and its absolutely fantastic, but there is a lot of work involved in getting a new device working with AOSP.


Great post. And yeah, I've been in your situation before. I've been a CyanogenMod exclusive for more than a year now, but I still (on rare occasion thank God) end up recommending Sense for hTC phones to people who are brand new to the process. We should start up an AOSPaholics Anonymous group.



Jaxidian said:


> As of now, rom manager's latest recovery is up to 5.0.1.0 and is still having problems.


Scratch my last. 5.0.2.1 has been released, and everyone I know who was having a huge issue with restoring has reported that this newest release clears up all the issues.

All the best,

-HG


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