[G2 and Desire Z General] inversecow:
Hello all,

I recently attempted to go from my stock ROM (HTC-Sense 2.2, stock) to something a little more modern (CM7.0.3).

I attempted to do this after rooting my phone (confirmed it worked) and doing the S-OFF stuff.

Originally I attempted to flash via ROM Manager, however this resulted in a boot-loop and upon restoring back to my pre-MOD image I had a broken version of SENSE (believe this is due to improper "wiping" of the various data/cache areas).

I had to manually flash CM7 via hBoot into CWM (hboot>recovery, CWM update.zip).

This resulted in what appears to be a full install of CM7 (7.0.3), however I am now left without any gApps (including Market).

I understand that due to legal requirements, CM does not bundle the gApps but they are available via download/flashing.

I expected this would mean simply downloading the gApp*.zip, uploading to the root of my SD card, and then re-doing the hBoot>CWM update.

This does not appear to function however as hBoot > Recovery does not load CWM (counter to what I recall happening previously).

I can get into hBoot (either via PWR+Vol Down, or PWR + reboot into Recovery within CM7), but get no further then the Recovery menu (inside of hBoot).

Specifically, I see the following (within hBoot > Recovery):

Bootloader

Reboot

Reboot Bootloader

Power Down

Selecting "Bootloader" takes me back to the main hBoot screen (detailed below).

Selecting "Reboot" takes me back into CM7.

Selecting "Reboot Bootloader" reloads the above detailed hBoot selections.

Selecting "Power Down" shuts the device off.

Here is what I have available on the primary hBoot screen:

Fastboot

Recovery

Factory Reset

Simlock

Image CRC

Selecting "Fastboot" attempts to locate and do something with "PC10IMG.*" (including .zip).

Selecting "Recovery" leads to further selections described above.

Selecting "Factory Reset" returns me to the same hBoot screen (seemingly without doing anything).

I have not attempted "Simlock" or "Image CRC".

Here is some further output from hBoot (Fastboot > Bootloader):

SD Checking...

Loading...[PC10DIAG.zip]

No image!

Loading...[PC10DIAG.nbh]

No image or wrong image!

Loading...[PC10IMG.zip]

No image!

Loading...[PC10IMG.nbh]

No image or wrong image!

Then it returns to the hBoot menus.

I understand from past research on this topic, that some users observe a terminal option somewhere within hBoot (which is not present in my case).

# Speculation on the root cause of this issue

I believe the issue is that hBoot does not know where/how to load CWM (wrong version, missing link, etc).

Thus why it keeps looping back instead of doing "something useful" like loading CWM.

I offer the following observed behavior to support this.

When I load ROM Manager (4.2.0.2) within CM7, I "Flash ClockworkMOD Recovery" (despite the "latest" and "current" versions matching (3.0.2.4)), which results in no change in version.

When I attempt to "Download ROM", I get prompted to "upgrade ROM Manager to the latest version", which then leads to a Force Close error.

I would really like to "close the loop" on this ROM upgrade for my phone, as I like the look and feel of CM7.

Without the gApps however, I am unable to access the Market and reload the APPs I had prior to the upgrade (EG: Gmail, Blizzard Mobile Authenticator, ROM Manager, etc.)

Any (constructive) tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

# Phone info (let me know if you require more then the below)

Phone: HTC Desire Z (Vision) (*not* G2)

Rooted: Yes

S-off: Yes

MOD: Cyanogenmod 7.0.3

ROM Manager: 4.2.0.2

CWM Recovery: 3.0.2.4

hBOOT: 0.85.0005

gApps: 20110307 (attempted), 20110613 (attempted)

Thank you.