Month: September 2011

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How have I installed Cyanogenmod 7 on my HTC Desire Z 2.3.3 Gingerbread

Okay, i’ve got to admit it was a lil bit risky for the sake of my phone. But in the end i installed Cyanogenmod 7 and acquired more battery, better performance for my Desire Z.

First of all, i’m taking no responsibility over the problems you are going to have with your phone. If you are not an expert, do not even try it. You may brick your phone.

Actually, the Wiki of the Cyanogenmod  used to include all the necessary info. But it is out dated right now and i have no idea why they don’t update it.

This tutorial will be for the phones which have HTC Desire Z’s 2.3.3 Gingerbread update.

Before you begin, you should install the Android SDK Starter.

Downgrading Step

Downgrading the phone

In this step, the necessary data is the result of this procedure. So, in that tutorial’s last step, be sure about you are checking the  screen of your phone. If it fails and gives an error about “CID”, you should do the “Goldcard” step. After that you should try downgrading the phone again. 

Goldcard Step

First download the Goldcard software. From your PC of course.

After extracting, right click and run as administrator,

  • Remove the sdcard from your phone
  • Plug it into a card reader and start the software,
  • Continue with the steps on the software. (Don’t worry about the link, just use it.)
  • Do the downgrading again.
Now we have successfully downgraded our version. Now we have to root our phone.
Rooting the phone (taken from wiki.cyanogenmod.com)
  1. You will need ADB on the computer to root the HTC Desire Z and to flash the necessary files for radio S-OFF. Follow the Android SDK guide, to get the ADB shell on the computer.
  2. Download busybox, the ClockworkMod Recovery, the Engineering HBoot, gfree 0.7, psneuter, root_psn, Superuser package:
    • busybox: Download
      md5: 25c5db694c987995909cc3166d4f01b0
    • ClockworkMod Recovery: Download
    • Engineering HBoot: Download
      md5: d8f61830f104ff5d48b855bbe0d95f56
    • gfree 0.7: Download
      md5: 6916cf05b0805aeac9effdc1725aaa12
    • psneuter: Download
      md5: 89c2dec8d72d87b4c669f44dd31c8d17
    • root_psn: Download
      md5: c8fe38ef55eb8951def9ff17b2eb99c1
    • Superuser package: Download
      md5: 43d9a40b63e916635d5ad7ca32433fab
  3. Unzip the zip files and copy the contents to the same folder as adb (the /platform-tools folder within the Android SDK folder).
  4. Connect the HTC Desire Z to the computer via USB.
  5. Make sure USB debugging is enabled on the HTC Desire Z by checking Settings » Applications » Development » USB debugging.
  6. On the computer, open terminal and run the following commands:
    adb push busybox /data/local/tmp/
    adb push gfree /data/local/tmp/
    adb push hboot-eng.img /data/local/tmp/
    adb push psneuter /data/local/tmp/
    adb push recovery-clockwork-3.0.2.4-vision.img /data/local/tmp/recovery.img
    adb push root_psn /data/local/tmp/
    adb push su /sdcard/
    adb push Superuser.apk /sdcard/
    adb shell
    chmod 755 /data/local/tmp/*
    /data/local/tmp/psneuter

    NOTE: You will drop out of the shell after this command. Restart the shell using:
    adb shell
    cd /data/local/tmp
    ./busybox md5sum /dev/block/mmcblk0p18

    NOTE: Take note of this number, we will need it later. For the remainder of this guide, we will refer to this number md5 #1.
    ./gfree -f -b hboot-eng.img -y recovery.img
    ./root_psn
    sync

    NOTE: This may take a moment, just give it some time.
    ./busybox md5sum hboot-eng.img

    NOTE: Take note of this number, we will need it later. For the remainder of this guide, we will refer to this number md5 #2.
    ./busybox md5sum /dev/block/mmcblk0p18

    NOTE: Take note of this number, we will need it later. For the remainder of this guide, we will refer to this number md5 #3.

    • If md5 #1 & md5 #3 match, then gfree 0.7 failed to powercycle the eMMC chip on the device. Either the software version is too high and the device was not downgraded per the previous section, or you did something wrong. Try again or join #G2Root on Freenode for further help..
    • If md5 #2 & md5 #3 match, then everything should be fine and you continue on.
    • If md5 #3 does NOT match md5 #1 or md5 #2, then DO NOT REBOOT and join #G2Root on Freenode for further help.
    reboot
  7. The HTC Desire Z is now rooted with S-OFF, the Engineering HBoot & the ClockworkMod Recovery.
Now we have rooted our phone and we can install cyanogenmod 7.

Method via Recovery (taken from wiki.cyanogenmod.com)

  1. Download the latest version of CyanogenMod.
    Optional: Download the Google Apps for the device.
  2. Place the CyanogenMod file.zip file on the root of the SD card. (“adb push Cyanogenmodfile.zip /sdcard/ “)
  3. Optional: Place the Google Apps .zip on the root of the SD card also.
  4. Boot into the ClockworkMod Recovery. (“adb reboot recovery“)
  5. Once the device boots into the ClockworkMod Recovery, use the side volume buttons to move around, and either the power button or the trackball to select.
    Optional: Select backup and restore to create a backup of current installation on the HTC Vision.
  6. Select the option to Wipe data/factory reset.
  7. Then select the option to Wipe cache partition.
  8. Select Install zip from sdcard.
  9. Select Choose zip from sdcard.
  10. Select the CyanogenMod update.zip.
    Optional: Install the Google Apps by performing steps 7 – 9 again and choosing the Google Apps update.zip.
  11. Once the installation has finished, select +++++Go Back+++++ to get back to the main menu, and select the Reboot system now option. The HTC Vision should now boot into CyanogenMod.
Voila! Now you have Cyanogenmod on your phone and you can enjoy its open-source freedom.
PS: If you buy ADW Launcher EX from Android Market for your phone, you can enjoy Cyanogenmod better.
PS2: I made this tutorial just for integration purposes. It was so hard to find different solutions for different problems. Thanks for everyone who have created the tutorials that i’ve used.
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