1. Being a newcomer to the sensation myself it took me some time to figure out how to get everything how I wanted it. I can now flash custom roms without trouble thanks to all the amazing people of this community.
  2.  
  3. This guide will be a "noob to noob" guide, I will guide you through the steps require to be able to flash custom roms.
  4.  
  5. [B]For who is this guide?[/B]
  6. This guide is for people who are completely new to unlocking, rooting, flashing...
  7. People who have experience in the field won't find this any usefull.
  8.  
  9. [B]Why not S-OFF?[/B]
  10. Some people find it difficult / unnecessary to S-OFF. Specifically people with HBOOT 1.27, whom only have the Juopunutbear method and which isn't as easy to do as the Revolutionary for previous HBOOT's.
  11. That being said, you can still S-OFF after we have completed this guide, nothing is stopping you from doing that.
  12.  
  13. [LIST]
  14. [*]HBOOT 1.27 S-OFF: [url]http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1614617[/url]
  15. [*]Previous HBOOT: [url]http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1192300[/url]
  16. [/LIST]
  17.  
  18. [B]Requirements:[/B]
  19. [LIST]
  20. [*]Your phone
  21. [*]USB Connector
  22. [*]Backup of your phone
  23. [*]A brain :D
  24. [/LIST]
  25.  
  26. [B]1. Unlock your phone[/B]
  27. Unlocking your phone is really easy, all you have to do is go to the [URL="http://htcdev.com/bootloader/"]HTC Dev website[/URL], select your device and follow the steps. HTC has done a great job putting together guides for every device.
  28. [B] WARNING:[/B] This will factory reset your phone, so you will loose your applications, sms's...
  29.  
  30. After doing this you should have a folder on your C:\ drive called Android containing the following: adb.exe, AdbWinApi.dll, fastboot.exe, Unlock_code.bin
  31. If you have this folder you can move to step 2.
  32.  
  33. [IMG]http://localhostr.com/file/LjdhzxB/Android%20folder.JPG[/IMG]
  34.  
  35. [B]2. Flashing a recovery[/B]
  36. We will be using 4EXT recovery for reasons I will later explain. To do the following steps you have to have your phone plugged in and have USB Debugging enabled. (Settings - Develop Option - USB debugging)
  37.  
  38. [LIST=1]
  39. [*]Download 4EXT recovery ([B]1.0.0.5![/B]): [url]https://www.dropbox.com/s/6ybcxyrpzv88uik/recovery.img[/url]
  40. [*]Put the file (recovery.img) in C:\Android
  41. [*]Shift right click in the white space on that folder
  42. [*]Select "Open command window here
  43. [*]Type in: adb
  44. [*]Type in: adb reboot-bootloader
  45. [*]Your phone will reboot, wait until you see a white screen
  46. [*]Type in: fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
  47. [*]Wait until the flashing is finished
  48. [*]Type in: fastboot reboot
  49. [/LIST]
  50.  
  51. You have now flashed the 4EXT recovery, through which you later will be flashing custom Rom's.
  52. The newest version (1.0.0.5 and up) of 4EXT has the ability to flash the "boot.img" for you, so you don't have to do it yourself after every new kernel and rom flash!
  53. You do have to enable it thought, which I will explain in the next step.
  54.  
  55. [B]3. Enable 4EXT smartflash[/B]
  56. This step is extremely important, because we are [U]not[/U] s-off and there is a problem with creating the "boot.img". T-Macgnolia explained it nicely:
  57.  
  58. [QUOTE]When you use HTC Dev to unlocj your bootloader it does unlock the Recovery, System, and Boot partitions to allow your device to write to those partitions and not just read rose partitions. But Terri is a catch, if you want to flash a custom recovery you have to use ABD fastoot commands to flash it. When you flash as ROM in a .zip file via Recovery, it only flashes the System partition. You then have to open the dot zip file and extract the boot.img and then use ADB fastboot commands to flash the boot.img to your boot partition. If you do not you will still have the boot.img of the ROM you was using before you flashed te New ROM.
  59.  
  60. Now let me explain the boot.img a little so you know why it is so important. The boot.img does just watt te name implies, it is what boots the Android ROM on your device. Now let me explain this a little further, the Android OS runs on top of eat is called a Lenox kernel. This means that your bootloader boots the Lenox kernel and the hardware of the device. The Lenox kernel then boots the Android OS. The kernel is also te connection between the hardware and the Android OS. So you see if the kernel is not compatible with the system that is on te system partition you will have troubles like WiFi not working or other I hardware reliant functions. So when you flash a new ROM and you are HTC Dev unlocked you will have to flash the boot.img for te ROM are you will more than likely have troubles.[/QUOTE]
  61.  
  62. Enabling this is as simple is getting into the recovery and enabling it as an option.
  63.  
  64. [B]WARNING:[/B] People have reported Wifi problems when flashing the stock kernel with SmartFlash. If you plan on using the stock kernel (which I do not recommend) I do not recommend on enabling this.
  65. If you however want to use custom kernels and later on flash the stock kernel and have problems, please follow [B]Extra 1[/B].
  66.  
  67. [LIST=1]
  68. [*]Remove the battery from your phone and put it back in
  69. [*]Hold the [B]Power [/B]AND [B]Volume Down[/B] button until you see a white screen.
  70. [*]Navigate to "RECOVERY" and select it, you should now boot into the 4EXT recovery
  71. [*]Select "Tools"
  72. [*]Scroll Down and select "Enable 4EXT SmartFlash"
  73. [*]Reboot
  74. [/LIST]
  75.  
  76. [B]4. Flashing the custom Rom![/B]
  77. Congrats, you made it. This is a step you will never forget, because you have to do this every time you flash a new ROM (which I assure you, you will do multiple times ;)).
  78.  
  79. First of all you need to choose your Custom ROM. Seeing as we are S-ON we only flash rom's with the same firmware as ours. You can check your firmware by going to Settings --> About Phone --> Software Number.
  80.  
  81. For this demonstration I will be using [URL="http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1098849"]Android Revolution HD[/URL], simply because it's the most popular option.
  82. For Android Revolution (and every ICS based ROM) you need the 3.32 firmware, which you should have if you are on Stock ICS with HBOOT 1.27.
  83. This means that you cannot flash GB Rom's, same goes for people who are on stock GB, they cannot flash ICS roms.
  84.  
  85. Most rom's have a nice guide's on how to flash their roms, but for this guide I'll be detailing on how to flash Android Revolution step by step.
  86.  
  87. [LIST=1]
  88. [*]Download SUPERWIPE from the Downloads section of the [URL="http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1098849"]Android Revolution HD thread.[/URL]
  89. [*]Download the latest version of [I]Android Revolution HD XE (Audio Beats)[/I] from the Downloads section of t he [URL="http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1098849"]Android Revolution HD thread[/URL].
  90. (Yes, you can flash the XE version on a normal sensation because they are the same phone but with a different case and different battery)
  91. [*]Put both the zips on your SD Card (anywhere, as long as you remember where you put it)
  92. [*]Reboot your phone into recovery (like we did in step 3)
  93. [INDENT][LIST][*]Remove the battery from your phone and put it back in
  94. [*]Hold the [B]Power [/B]AND [B]Volume Down[/B] button until you see a white screen.
  95. [*]Navigate to RECOVERY and select it
  96. [/LIST][/INDENT]
  97. [*]Select "Install from sdcard"
  98. [*]Select "choose zip from sdcard"
  99. [*]Navigate to where you previously but the zips and select the Superwipe one (Android_Revolution_HD_Super_Wipe_Sensation.zip)
  100. [*]Let it's do it's thing, you can see what it's doing
  101. [*]Once again select "choose zip from sdcard" and browse to the location of the zips and select the Rom this time (Android_Revolution_HD-Sensation_6.6.3_XE.zip)
  102. [*]Follow through the steps and when it asks you to install a custom kernel select YES. (Why? See Step 3)
  103. [*]Reboot!
  104. [/LIST]
  105.  
  106. Hooray! You have now flashed your very first Custom Rom, please take in mind that a first boot can take quite a while, just be patient. :)
  107.  
  108. If you have ANY problems at all, please feel free to leave a message in this topic. But please remember that I am also still a noob and I will probably not be able to answer all of your questions.
  109. You can also ask for help in [URL="http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1443587"]this Help Thread[/URL] by Tinky1 or join [URL="http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=helpmenow&uio=d4"]this IRC channel.[/URL]
  110. There are a bunch of people in there (including me :D) who are very eager to help you.
  111.  
  112. [B]Extra 1: Flashing "boot.img"[/B]
  113. This is for people who have enabled 4EXT SmartFlash and decided to flash the Stock Kernel and are thus [B]having Wifi problems[/B] (This might get fixed in later updates of 4EXT but currently it's not working.)
  114.  
  115. To fix your Wifi problems we have to find the "boot.img" fitting with the original kernel and have your phone connected to your pc with usb-debugging enabled.
  116. [LIST]
  117. [*]Stock ICS (3.32): [url]https://www.dropbox.com/s/joe6fqa75teagnq/boot.img[/url]
  118. [*]Stock GB: ... (Anyone? :))
  119. [/LIST]
  120.  
  121. [LIST=1]
  122. [*]Put the"boot.img" in your "C:\Android" (or wherever your adb and fastboot are located)
  123. [*]Shift right click in the white space on that folder
  124. [*]Select "Open command window here
  125. [*]Type in: adb
  126. [*]Type in: adb reboot-bootloader
  127. [*]Your phone will reboot, wait until you see a white screen
  128. [*]Type in: "fastboot flash boot boot.img"
  129. [*]Wait until it's done flashing
  130. [*]Type in: "fastboot reboot"
  131. [/LIST]
  132.  
  133. Once your phone is rebooted your problem should be fixed.