Guide to installing custom ROM on rooted Orange UK HTC Hero
1 ) If your handset isn’t rooted – follow my guide here. There is a reliance on the modified recovery console to flash custom ROMs which is covered as part of the rooting process – just follow parts 1 and 2 (part 3 is already done for you in the customised ROM).
2 ) Gather the required files (Main “update.zip” package (Mandatory) (mirror)| Enhanced add-on pack (optional) (mirror) | WaveSecure add-on pack (Optional but recommended) (mirror) | Boot sounds add-on pack (optional – simply restores the android sound during boot (mirror). For details of what is in the add-on packs, see this thread on Modaco.
3 ) Ensure you have at least 400meg of free space on your SD card in order to perform a backup (the backup will allow you to return the phone to it’s previous state if anything goes wrong or you simply don’t like it).
4 ) Put all the files on the root of the SD card. I suggest you rename the first/main package to “update.zip” (if your Windows install shows file extensions, the rename should be “update.zip” – if you have known extensions hidden, the rename should just be “update”) as there is an option in the bootloader to directly apply “update.zip”. DO NOT UNZIP THE FILES, SIMPLY COPY THE FILES TO THE ROOT OF THE SD CARD.
5 ) Perform a backup (PLEASE DO THIS!!) – shut down the phone, then turn it on again holding the “Home” and “Power” keys until the bootloader appears. Using the trackball, select the “Perform a Nandroid Backup” option and wait until it completes. This should take about 5 minutes. The files will appear on the SD card under /nandroid/backups/
6 ) Flash the main “update.zip” – simply select the “apply sdcard:update.zip” option and wait. This bit should take between 5-10 minutes. When it’s done, select the “reboot system now” option.
7 ) The first boot into the new version will take a while (don’t panic at this bit, the phone will sit at the shiny HTC animation for up to 10 minutes whilst it sorts itself out).
8 ) When you’re finally back at your home screen, everything should look as it did before you flashed the update. If you check your applications folder they should all be there including some new ones (like WifiTether). If you go to Settings > About Phone, you should see the build number and possibly a “reboot” message next to the SSH password text – next time you reboot a unique password for the SSH server will be generated.
9 ) Turn off the phone and boot back to the bootloader screen and apply any of the other updates you downloaded (i.e. WaveSecure). Select the “apply any zip from sd” option and choose which update to apply – repeat process until you’ve applied all the optional updates then reboot the phone again.
10 ) That’s it! You now have the latest Android 1.5 build, some nice new toys and a potential speed increase on your previous build.
You should be able to access the SSH server using something like PuTTY
The address is the IP address assigned to the phone
The port is 2222
The username is root
The password is found on the Settings > About Phone screen (next to the build number).
Source: 1
