[HTC Desire S] wuhtzu:
To noobs, lazy people and semi-pros new to Android tinkering

A couple of days ago when I decided to check out CyanogenMod I knew close to nothing about tinkering with the HTC phones, Android and custom ROMs. So the first surprise I got was that my HBOOT version (v. 2.00.0002) was not supported by Revolutionary (http://revolutionary.io/). So I turned that into a Google search for "htc desire s downgrade hboot" and after 1 hour of detours I found this thread, great. Then I quickly came to realize that I didn't understand much of those steps mentioned and after additional 12 hours of dedicated searching/learning/trying basic stuff I finally felt that I understood enough to just give it a try. So i tried out the steps I deemed necessary and it worked! I'm not a hboot 0.98.0000 ready to take on CyanogenMod

So to people like me (new to android tinkering) but not willing to or capable of doing their own research / learning, here is my situation and what I did:

# My pre-this-guide-situation

Software number: 2.10.401.8 (not .5)

HBOOT: 2.00.0002

# Which steps I followed from this guide (and how)

#1: Unlock the bootloader

http://htcdev.com/bootloader -> "Begin Unlock Bootloader". The steps there are very detailed and easy to follow. It also explains how to use adb and fastboot to interact with the phone. Remember that when you later see something like

adb push

#2: Step 1: Creating a Gold Card (not sure I really needed it)

I originally thought I needed this step, so I did it way before I was ready to follow the rest of the guide, and I did not undo it, so I can't say for sure if it is needed or not in this situation.

As far as I can tell it is only needed if you are going to flash roms by other means that he official RUU-.exe files. And since I did not do that, I guess the gold card is not needed.

a. Install "Goldcard Helper" from the market on your phone

b. Run it to obtain the CID for MMC2. This number is needed in step c, so write it down, e-mail it to your self from your phone or the like.

c. Go to http://psas.revskills.de/?q=goldcard and fill in CID and hit "Download Goldcard!"

d. Save the file goldcard.img to your hdd

e. Connect phone as a "Disk drive" using USB cable.

f. Use Gold Card Tool (Google -> "Gold Card Tool" -> find somewhere to download a file called something like goldcardtool.exe 1Mb in size) to flash your image file to your phone's SD card.

g. Disconnect safely from the PC, and disconnect the cable.

#3: Get zergRush exploit working

Follow this guide: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1296916

If you get an error when running zergRush (most likely because you have already ran it, rebooted the phone and want to run it again) check this out: http://androidforums.com/3522796-post454.html

When the guide mentions "you will need an adb shell" and "Push the binary onto /data/local/" you will need some adb-skills. Get those from these tutorialshttp://www.xda-developers.com/android/adb-easy-tutorial/ and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RieL7vHt6AE

#4: Step 2: Modifying the version of your phone

a. Connect the phone using USB cable using "Charge ONLY" and USB Debugging is ON.

b. The misc_version file is attached to this thread (in Skanob original post). Download it and put it somewhere smart like c:\android, c:\android\downsaga\ or c:\downsaga.

c. Open a command prompt and run these commands:

(go to the folder created in #1 which contains adb.exe, "c:\android" in HTCs unlock bootloader guide. Maybe check this tutorial: http://www.xda-developers.com/android/adb-easy-tutorial/. Also notice that running "adb shell" from the folder where adb.exe resides gives you a "shell" where you do not need to put "adb" in front of all your commands)

adb push C:\downsaga\misc_version /data/local/tmp
adb shell chmod 777 /data/local/tmp/misc_version
adb shell
/data/local/zergRush
cd /data/local/tmp
./misc_version -s 1.27.405.6
exit
adb reboot bootloader

Remember #3 if you get an error when trying to execute /data/local/zergRush.

#5: Step 5: Locking the bootloader

a. Connect phone on fastboot (should already be done if you executed the last "adb reboot bootloader"-command from #4)

b. In the already open (if you did not close the prompt from #4) run this command:

fastboot oem lock

c. You might receive an error message in your command prompt but don't mind it. The phone will now restart it self and boot into the android os.

#6: Step 6 Downgrading

a. Get yourself an old official RUU from here: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1002506 .

I used "RUU_Saga_HTC_Europe_1.28.401.1_Radio_20.28b.30.080 5U_38.03.02.11_M_release".

You should choose one which contains the right region, e.g. Europe, Asia, and one which is significantly older than 2.10.401. Maybe it's even a requirement to have a 1.2.x RUU (I don't know)

b. Connect the phone on fastboot. Either turn off the phone and hold down volume_down+power_on or issue "adb reboot bootloader" from a command prompt

c. Launch the RUU-.exe file (RUU_Saga_HTC_Europe....exe) you have just downloaded.

d. After pressing "Next" a couple of times a screen should appear saying something like: "Current information about your Android-phone: Image version: 1.27.405.6". It needs to say 1.27.405.6 (mine said 1.27.405.68 and still worked though). If it says something else go back to step #3.

e. Continue by clicking "Next", "Update now", "Yes I really mean it" and so on.

f. It the RUU does not error out at some point but displays you a nice "Congratulations, your phone has been successfully ...."-screen you are home safe. Everything probably worked.

g. Reboot to the bootloader (power off -> vol_down + power_on_off or "adb reboot bootloader") and verify that it now reads: "HBOOT 0.98.0000"

I hope this can help some hesitant / not very self confident people (and lazy people of course). Remember to [Thank] Skanob for his work - it's his method, I (and all the other replies to this thread) merely seeks to make it easier to understand for others.

Thanks

Wuhtzu