There is more than one software component that make a Android device work. There is the boot loaded (HBOOT), who does more than just loading the rest of the system. It holds the S-ON/S-OFF flag and the extended fastboot commands enable flags. I can be also used to repartition the internal memory. Then there is the recovery image, which you will use to backup and restore your system, and a bunch of other hackerish stuff. And there is, of course, the Android system and all the pretty apps you can use. But that’s not all!
There is also the “radio”. This is a small but important piece of firmware that is able to speak to the radio (wifi, cellular, bluetooth) hardware. You guessed it, a bad radio will make your expensive Android phone a very cool paperweight. It can also influence signal qulity and stability, and also battery life. It is, therefore, recommended that you update the radio regularly. Some ROMs will require a certain minimum radio version.
Usually radios come packaged in zip files which you can apply just like any other update from the recovery system. There are two issued with that:
- You might like to flash the radio with a known and tested tool (fastboot), if you don’t trust the recovery system to do it. This applies if you run a very new/development recovery system. Always keep in mind that a failed radio update can brick your phone.
- You applied the CM7 boot table that will allow you to have more storage space for apps. Your cache partiton has now only 5 MB and this will not be enough to flash the radio update.
So, if you find yourself in one or both of the situations above, here is a quick step-by-step how to for manually updating the radio. It’s written and tested on HTC Desire GSM, but it should work with any other Android phone with working fastboot commands
Prerequisites:
- Rooted, S-OFF Android phone – You can use Freedom 4 Android for that.
- A working fastboot setup. See here how to install fastboot and adb on your computer. Or use the one shipped with Freedom 4 Android.
Step 1. Download the latest radio for your phone. I download radios for my HTC Desire GSM from this address.
Step 2. Use your favorite archive manager to extract radio.img from the zip file.
Step 3. Boot your phone in fastboot mode and connect it to the computer with the USB cable.
$ fastboot devices
HT09RPL00912 fastboot
Step 4. Flash the updated radio.
$ fastboot flash radio radio.img
Step 5. Reeboot the phone and enjoy!
Of course, this is not as convenient as the “apply update” method, but it is less risky, IMHO. So, enjoy!
Image credit: laihiuyeung ryanne.
Related posts:
- How to manually update ClockworkMod recovery image on HTC Desire GSM
- How to repartition HTC Desire to have more storage space for apps
- How to get shell on your Android phone in Ubuntu – SDK Tools r8 and fastboot update
- How to change the boot splash image on HTC Desire
- CyanogenMod 7 boot splash for HTC Desire
