[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] taylorinnov:
Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this!

Phone in Question: Sprint HTC Evo 4G (Original, not LTE)

Where I have been

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Phone came to me with S-OFF, but no one could tell me how exactly it was done. All I know for sure is that was NOT done with Revolutionary. The phone was hung at the white HTC screen. Thinking this was a simple flash-gone-wrong, I entered HBOOT and found it to be functional. Entering recovery also resulted at a hang at the white HTC screen though.

I was able to regain Recovery functionality by installing ClockWorkMod Recovery via HBOOT PC36IMG.zip load. I then used CWM to try and install CM7.2. I received this error:

assert failed: write_raw_image("/tmp/boot.img","boot")

Assuming I had some sort of compatibility problem (possible issue mentioned somewhere in the forums here) I upgraded the HBOOT to 2.15.0001, the Radio to 2.15.00.08.08, WiMax to 26023, PRI to 2.15 and NVRAM to 2.15. I encountered te same error.

Then on a whim I tried to flash CM6.1.2. Success! The phone booted and appeared to be functional. I thought my problems were over.

Since I am planning to give this phone to a layperson, I downloaded and installed:

RUU_SuperSonic_GB_Sprint_WWE_4.53.651.1_Radio_2.15.00.0808_NV_2.15_release_209995_signed

No problems were reported during the installation. Upon rebooting though, the phone got stuck again at the white HTC screen. Thinking it was maybe just due to the first boot, I left it there overnight... It was still stuck at the white HTC screen in the morning. Upon further inspection, I found that I am also now S-ON.

Realizing I didn't have much to lose, I took it all the way. I applied this:

RUU_SuperSonic_GB_Sprint_WWE_4.67.651.3_Radio_2.15.00.12.19_NV_2.33_release_234563_signed

Again, no problems whatsoever during installation. But, yet again, here I am, stuck at that cursed white HTC screen. And now a new symptom. If I leave the USB connected to my computer during bootup, it eventually cuts to a screen with a circle composed of two green arrows around a green arrow pointing down to a small phone picture. After a few more seconds, it blacks out and gives me 5 viberations and the cursed blinking green light. HBOOT still seems to work perfectly though.

What I have tried

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* Everything above. All procedures were followed correctly for the above activities (Caches wiped, etc).

* Various combinations of various Radio/HBOOT versions, old to new in succession. No differences experienced from any version. All are current now.

* Formatted /data, /system, and various caches. RUU 234563 reinstalled, no change.

* HBOOT USB Access - No ENG mode available, so I couldn't perform any testing on the NAND. Couldn't find any information on the task or rtask number to execute to accomplish anything useful. This interface is poorly documented and I don't want to poke around here anymore without expert guidance.

* Booting with every possible combination of power connected, data connected, and Micro SD installed or not.

* Various combinations of PC36IMG and RUU flashing. Never encountered any problems via these methods. They all still brought me back to the white HTC screen.

Where I am now

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HBOOT screen follows:

*** LOCKED (OOW) ***

SUPERSONIC EVT3 SHIP S-ON

HBOOT-2.18.0001

MICROP-041f

TOUCH PANEL-ATMEL224-16ab

RADIO-2.15.00.12.19

DEC 21 2011,12:50:32

Regular boot leads me to be stuck at the white HTC screen.

Attempting to enter recovery takes me to the white HTC screen, then the Green Arrow circle screen, then waits at the Red Triangle exclamation mark screen. I assume this is standard recovery behavior. (Never actually went here on stock before.)

Micro SD access seems to work correctly from HBOOT, though acted flaky earlier when accessed from CWM Recovery.

Where I was thinking of going

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* Downgrading all the way to an engineering HBOOT and testing the NAND. Bad blocks maybe? Only problem there is I can't figure out how to check my hardware version using only HBOOT.

I could also spend hours faking my way through swapping this ESN onto one of my lines so I could get it exchanged. Seems like a huge PITA I would like to avoid.

I am proficient with Linux (though I use Windows 7) and command lines don't bother me. Suggestions?

Thanks again!