Restore HTC One XL (Evita) to Stock.

I finally decided to sell my HTC One XL and I need to restore it to stock. If you follow my previous post to unlock bootloader then this information is helpful to you.

CID Getter did not work for me so I had to get CID using ADB.
adb reboot-bootloader
fastboot oem readcid

Having unlocked Bootloader I thought it would be easy to flash stock ROM, but I was wrong. The biggest issue is S-Off if you have SuperCID 11111111. When you try to flash Stock RUU it fails for two reason your bootloader is unlocked and S-ON. If you try to flash CyanogenMOD 10.1.3 it fails because HBoot version is too old, if I am correct you need HBoot version 2.14 for CyanogenMOD 10.1.3.

Please make sure you setup HTC USB driver and Android SDK.

To flash Stock RUU you need to do S-Off first using this link.

Note: Don't flash Stock RUU with SuperCID and S-ON it might brick your device. Please read the entire post above carefully before proceeding.

Download the Stock RUU 3.18 from here.

Connect your phone to your computer and follow the steps on RUU.



Helpful Links
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1671237
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2181929
http://forum.cyanogenmod.com/topic/74576-only-support-214-hboot/
http://androidruu.com/Evita/
http://www.full-firmware.com/htc-one-x-lte-htc-one-xl-htc-edge-stock-roms.html
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2221171

AT&T HTC One X Install Custom ROM

These are the instructions and helpful links to unlock AT&T HTC One X Bootloader, install Custom Recovery and Install Custom Rom.

Here are the list of things you need to prepare or download.

• Latest Android SDK 
• HTC USB Driver
• Baseband Version 1.82 Root Zip (Mirror) & Baseband Version 1.85 Root Zip
• Hex Editor
• Recovery
• Custom ROM (I used CyanogenMOD 10) Copy to Phone.
• Google Apps Download List or Download Latest Copy to Phone.

1. First you need to get Root access
• AT&T has HTC One X with two different Baseband versions
• Baseband Version 1.82 Root Instructions 
• Baseband Version 1.85 Root Instructions
• Note: You have to try running this few times until you can get it to run successfully. I used 1.85 instructions and I had to try 2 to 3 times, watch the output of the batch file carefully. (Or you can try running the command manually using this link, Thanks to Mike Roberson)

1. To unlock Bootloader
• AT&T does not allow to unlock bootloader so if you tried instructions from HTCDev.com, it will not work. You need to follow this instructions.Your phone will be wiped out and you will loose root access but do not reboot your phone, stay in fastboot or bootloader mode.
2. Install Recovery (Follow the same instructions, just change the name of the recovery file.)
• I tried to flash ClockworkMOD and it didn't work so I used Team Blackout recovery. It is as good as ClockworkMOD.
3. Reboot into Recovery from Fastboot
4. Backup Current ROM
5. Wipe Data / Reset
6. Install Custom ROM and Google Apps
7. Reboot

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OTA Antenna and DVR

Few months ago I cut the cable and setup antenna and DVR for OTA channels. Here is the information about antenna and DVR.

First, you need to find out what kind of antenna you need using AntennaWeb.org and what side of your house covers all broadcasting station, ignore if you are planning to mount it on the roof.

I found following information from Winegard Technical Advisor

• Install antenna in attic, you might loose signal and it might not work if you are far away from broadcasting station. Also you might have to run some extra cables.
• Snow does not effect antenna or signals however weather may cause some disruption.
• Omni directional antenna like Winegard MS-2002 is the best way to go if you don't want to install all the complex antenna hardware. Winegard web site has nice antenna categories at top including broadcasting distance.

This is the antenna I choose

• WinegardMS-2002 HDTV Antenna
• WinegardDS-200 Antenna Mount

You can build your own DVR by using Nettop PC and Microsoft Windows Media Center or some other OTA DVR boxes.

• Here are the OTA DVR boxes I found. 
• Dvico Tvix 6620N-Plus (I bought it from here.)
• Channel Master DVR+
• Simple TV (Subscription based, also required Roku to watch recored shows on TV, you can also watch shows on your mobile devices.)
• Channel Master CM-7000PAL (Discontinued)
• Channel Master CM-7400 HD (Discontinued)

Here is what I tried but didnot work. PC gets too hot in media cabinet and it is not easy for your wife to use. Your spouse can not fix it if something goes wrong and you are at work (Believe me).

• Nettop PC (I bought used one for $200)
• HDHomeRunDual TV Tuner (They have iPad app too.)
• RG6cable 50’
• Coax Crimper
• Coax Grouding Block
• RG6 Crimp-on Connectors

I like Dvico Tvix DVR because it is small and does it's job. It has few bugs but it is the cheapest and best solution I found for OTA DVR. It plays so many different file formats including ISO images.

Let me know if you find any other OTA DVR which is better than TVIX.

Channel Master is good, you can also buy them at Walmart. Channel Master CM-7000PAL does not have any port for additional storage so you maximum you can record 30 hours of HD and 140 hours of SD content.

Channel Master announced CM-74000 HD few months ago and few people left the bad reviews about it so I did not pay much attention to it and also it was about $500, they recently dropped the price.

Update: Here is another OTA DVR called Simple.tv It looks good but the only problem is one tuner. Hopefully they will launch new model with multiple tuner soon.

Perfect Solution would be

• Something like Cotton Candy
• DVR with HDHomeRun and NAS support  

tags: ota dvr, ota antenna, ota antenna dvr, tvix ita dvr, channel master ota dvr, channel master dvr, channelmaster ota dvr, channelmaster dvr

Downgrade Nexus S from 4.0.3 To 2.3.6

It took me 2.5 hours to find all the information to downgrade my wife's Nexus S to 2.3.6.

Note: This method requires to unlock phone's bootloader to flash custom recovery

1. Backup your sd-card (I also backed up my call logs, sms, mms and bookmarks.)
2. Download 2.3.X version that you want flash using this link
3. Prepare your computer for fastboot command using this link, If you have any driver issue for fastboot use this link.
4. Unloack boot-loader using this link, follow the Unlock boot-loader section.
5. Now reboot your phone and copy 2.3.X zip on your sd-card.
6. We need to flash custom recovery, so follow the Installing the ClockworkMod Recovery Image sections from this link.
7. Select Recovery from fastboot
8. Select Wipe data.
9. Select Install zip from sd-card.
10. Select Reboot system now.
11. Restore sd-card from backup (be carefull I didn't not restore those .android-XXXX folders, you might get weird errors).
12. Now you have Gingerbread running on your Nexus S, if you care you can lock the bootloader again by turning your phone into fastboot and typing following command. Locking won't wipe out your sd-card so don't worry.

                     fastboot oem lock

       
Update: I Tried this on I9020T. I flashed 2.3.4 first because that's the first signed zip and then updated to 2.3.6.

EASEUS Partition Manager for free

        After googling for like an hour I found this software that does an amazing job for disk management. It also works on the USB flash drives so no need to flip the bit or anything like that. Home edition is free and that's what I used to repartition my Kingston Data Traveller II plus migo edition.
        It will not format or anything if you just resize your partition. Other good thing is, nothing will take effect until you hit Apply from Top Left corner.
Here is the download link for all the available editions
http://www.partition-tool.com/download.htm