[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] JayStation3:
Hi every one - I am new to "root" and I have been searching for an "easy for me" way to "root" my EVO. I am not new to technology. I have taught my self how to write HTML for my gaming web site, I have designed dozens of PSP/PS3 themes, I even have 2 PSP's that run home brew on them. I'm not computer illiterate, but I am also not "l33t" either ;)

I have been searching between a few differant forums, and have been spending most of my energy researching XDA forums and wiki's... I have found several helpful threads regarding how to "Root" my EVO, but I gotta be honest - I'm still confused on some things.

I watched EvoGamer's 3 part video on youtube several times on how to "root" my EVO using "Simple Root" and it seems simple enough (just as simple as most of the threads I have read here), but I get lost when it comes to flashing custom ROMs and this other thing about "flashing the radio"...he didnt say any thing about that in his videos... :/

1. What is all this I hear about "Flashing the Radio" I know that the EVO has 4G, 3G & wifi "radios" as they are called in the manual or antennas as I have read some of the members here call them... Which "radio" is not flashed or needs to be flashed?. Is it absolutly neccessary to "flash the radio" on every ROM or just a few that have differant ROMs? And last if I use one of the methods on here to "root" - does the flashing of the radio already happen or is it some thing I will have to do after "root"??

2. If I have a "rooted" phone and try and use the OTA update (lets say, for the sake of argument, when the next froyo update comes out) from Sprint - Will it Un-root my phone? (Just for my info) IS IT even possible to get the Over The Air Update thru the EVO when your phone is rooted? (I saw Toast said NOT to accept an OTA update from sprint because you could loose root forever...and ever)

3. I have read that some ROMs do not have 4G, is this true with ALL current ROMs as of right now? Are there any ROMs that have 4G?

4. I have read several threads on backing up your phone... Do you do this BEFORE or AFTER you have it rooted? Will all my apps still be on my phone after I root it? (i think they will be but just making sure I get the correct answer) What about pictures/videos/contacts?? (I know the data will more than likely be gone since you wipe the phone during the root process - again, just trying to get some understanding here...)

5. How do I back up the phone? How do I back up EVERYTHING?? Can I just use a blank SD card to copy the entire contents from the first card and then use that Copied SD card to do my root files and what not? Would that be too confusing? Can I just use Windows **** Tools on my PC to back up the SD card?? or is that not the same thing?

6. What exactly is a Kernel and what are the benefits in changing it? I know I can probably seach this, but I figured I would just throw it in as a last minute thought...

I have already downloaded eveything needed to get my phone rooted, but it always seems like the methods are differant. I know how to get into recovery mode and i have installed SDK and the drivers... but I also noticed there are methods that do not ask for SDK or SYNC for that matter... confused there... which one should I use? Any preferances?

I know these are pretty dumb questions to most of you reading it. I am obviously a noob to rooting... and believe me - If there was a place that I could just type in these questions to get strait answers - I would. There are entirly TOO many damn threads on how to do ONE thing here... I have used the search for several days and all I seem to do is confuse my self... Any help on any of these questions would be greatly appriciated.

A few threads I have been inspired by

http://www.androidcentral.com/evo-4g-root-instructions

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=690762

http://androidandme.com/2010/07/phones/intro-to-rooting-your-sprint-htc-evo-4g-video/

Obviously there are tons more but those are the ones I have read/watched like 2 dozen times.

Also my HBOOT screen (?is that what its called when you hold the "power" and "volume up" buttons?) contained this:

SUPERSONIC EVT2-3 SHIP S-ON

HBOOT-0.97.0000

MICROP-041f

TOUCH PANEL-ATMEL224_16ab

Aug 19 2010,14:29:08

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Im running

Android: 2.2 (froyo)

Baseband Version: 2.15.00.09.01

Kernel Version: 2.6.32.15-ge2fb08e htc-kernel@and18-2 #11

Build Number: 3.29.651.5 CL252548

Software Number: 3.29.651.5

Browser Version: WebKit 3.1

PRI Version: 1.77_003

PRL Version: 60670

Thanks again for any direction from any of you guys,

Jay