Database Users

[Q] Rooting Wierdness

So I bought a smuggled Desire Z in Beijing yesterday, and there are some strange things about it.
First, someone seems to have gone in and modded it. I didn't think they'd turn up modded yet at the shops, because permaroot hasn't been out for very long.
Anyway, there's a bunch of Chinese crapware that I want to remove and whatnot, and I'm getting ready to root (can't uninstall it, like it was installed by a carrier). Here's where it gets strange.
I figured, being modded and all, that the phone was permarooted. Superuser is in the app folder and everything, but none of my root apps are able to gain superuser permissions. None of them.
Anyway, I want root, and I want to uninstall a bunch of that crapware. Should I go through the basic rooting process and see what happens?

Update
I went ahead and rooted using Paul's Visionary, and got permaroot. I'm still confused as to why it had the SU app w/o root, and how the Chinese modders added that pesky crapware...

During all the work to try and unlock the NAND on the DZ, there were some videos from Chinese guys (linked on the G2 forums) who were similarly working on permanent root, NAND unlocking and so forth. There were some links at that point to modded Chinese DZs for sale, so I'm not suprised you've ended up with one.

Yeah, actually, most of the android phones I see on the market are modded. Some offer it as an option, but a lot of them just mod them wholesale.
There are very few android phones available officially in China, though the number has exploded recently. Most android phones are bought abroad and smuggled in, and the modders work hard to localize them for China users.
I'm definitely going to go in and undo most of what they did. They installed some crappy browsers and a market app that gives out pirated, translated apps. They also put their own logo in the lockscreen, and it looks like sh-t.
Here's a question, though. If I want to go back to Asian stock sense, would I need the full Asia RUU, or just the ROM part? There's a link in this forum for the RUU, but he says it's just the ROM component.

I would be careful, because you don't know for sure exactly how they've modded your phone. For example, quite a few people have semi-bricked their phone by just flashing a stock RUU after having s-off and permaroot, see http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=838484
Do you have a custom recovery on your phone ?
It looks like the stock Asian ROM is at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=820410 , as you say.
Hopefully some more experienced guys will be able to give you better advice. I'm very new to Android, though I'm learning fast !

Thank you anyway. I am aware of the S-off issue. I recently rooted, S-off'ed and flashed clockwork successfully using the guides here.
My next step is to hit up their forum and see what's going on. I don't mind that they flashed some custom stuff to make it more China-friendly. What irks me is that they added a bunch of apps (and set their website as default home), then locked it back up, just like a carrier. That's a bit cheeky, if you ask me.
When I bought my G1 under similar circumstances, it had been modded by a rival Chinese forum. Totally unlocked, no bloatware, clockwork recovery, and running a Chinese version of Cyanogen. Obviously a very different philosophy at work.
Anyway, they're called goapk. Though I'm impressed with their skills, I'm definitely not amused.

Yeah I see what you mean. The group that modded your G1 sound like one that would encourage me to go back to them to see what else they're doing.

sdx-developers now have ROMs based on 4/11/2011 VM USA Froyo release

The great developers and testers at sdx-developers came up with two version of Froyo using VM USA Froyo release.
1.
Rooted Froyo ROM for those who previously upgraded to Sprint Froyo 2.2
For Sprint baseband, DL05 or DF27
2.
Stock Froyo ROM based on latest VM USA
A few people tested this and reported that MMS and Voice Mail notifications working again.
http://forum.sdx-developers.com/int...obile-froyo-2-2-stock-system-and-kernel-dump/
Please read in detail and decide for yourself.

I'm still not sure about this update. It's not as simple as running Update.zip, right? You need to flash it, then do a factory reset, then download another program, run that, and THEN it works? Also, is this a modified ROM at all?

Yeah, this isn't the zipped rom from Virgin Mobile, this is pieced (back) together from the 2.2 update installed on an Intercept after the fact, apparently.
3:30pm PDT on 4/13 and still nothing.
I still haven't seen anybody come up with the actual 2.2 Froyo zipped rom from Virgin Mobile. Apparently everyone so far has popped a nut when they get the update and installed it directly instead of downloading it and choosing to install it later, then locating it on their phone and posting it somewhere.

I've got aLogcat installed. I am just waiting for the update to show up. I've seen the message that it is coming. Still waiting for it to arrive though. When it does I'll try to get the devs what they need. I don't really know what I am doing, but I'll give it a go.

I guess this no longer matters as the official update is now in the hands of SDX-Developers.

got mine on 4/20

holy sweet baby jesus this stuff is killing me! I've managed (by the grace) to get my bf's intercept rooted (not temp).. been on this for hours! I'm fairly accustomed to the process as I have an evo and been flashing nightlies for months.
I can't get a recovery on the phone via swupgrade. I put the cm01.tar in the binary folder by itself, and the thing goes through right to the last part and just sits there, doesn't transfer. heeeelp pleeeease! I'm so sick of this now. I was able to delete much of the bloat ware and now I'm wondering if it's worth the trouble to try and get a better rom / kernel. Advice?

Compass and Sensors - Hardware or Software problems?

A while back, just before the 2.2 OTA update came out for ATT locked streaks I received a replacement streak from dell. I didn't have it long enough before I applied the update to remember if the compass or sensors were working, but I seem to remember the screen would auto rotate just fine.
After the update the screen would not auto rotate at all. I spent a while looking into fixing it, trying things like srchild.com's calibrate-sensor-on-upside-down-dell-streak-after-froyo-22-android-upgrade
But I have a slightly different version of the menu's than that tutorial shows and nothing I did fixed the auto rotate so I eventually just learned to live with it in landscape mode for a while.
Now I realize that no compass or sensor based apps work. I've installed sensor monitor apps and they show no data. The "Calibration" application that shows bubble levels doesn't move at all. I'm starting to think it is a hardware problem but like I said, I am almost sure that screen rotation worked before the upgrade on this device.
Is there a way to verify for sure before calling dell. Their support was a nightmare to deal with the first time.
TIA

Why go through the trouble? Why not root your Streak and flash a custom ROM. They perform much better.
If you don't like them then you could always use the QDL tool to get back to stock but everyone here knows the OTA updates wreak havoc for almost all Android devices

cdzo72 said:
Why go through the trouble? Why not root your Streak and flash a custom ROM. They perform much better.
If you don't like them then you could always use the QDL tool to get back to stock but everyone here knows the OTA updates wreak havoc for almost all Android devices
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A new ROM, stock or custom, won't fix the problem if there is a hardware issue. Installing a different ROM might help troubleshoot the problem. I would suggest a stock ROM so that if the problem persists there is no questions concerning the warranty. 353 is the latest AT&T ROM and can be downloaded here.
You don't have to root and then install StreakDroid, you can install SD without rooting first.
The updates I have gotten for the Streak have been excellent. I run Stock 351. My streak was purchased unlocked from Dell. In addition the OTA update I got for my Moto Backflip was a huge improvement and the update on my wife's Inspire that enabled the setting to install non-market apps works fine. I would have to say that not everyone here agrees with your assessment of the OTA updates.
To the opening poster I would suggest a reset or reinstall of 353 and then test with no apps installed.

I should've specified the OTAs from DELL are notorious for causing issues.
And you are correct, not everyone here would agree with them, but if you like to tweak and play, then a stock ROM doesn't offer much flexibility, not to mention performance wise.
When I first got my Streak I bricked it, then I revived it with the QDL tool and then went to StreakDroid. Then I even went back to stock to have a baseline to compare with the StreakDroid beta I'm currently using, and I have to say, stock is just that, stock, it's two worlds, performance and battery on stock just don't compare to any of the custom ROMs.
I know this isn't the place for this discussion but I couldn't help but make my point. If you like the stock ROM, I'm happy for you, but I for one have never been much to settle for less, I'm always looking for the latest thing.

Having not looked into updating android a great deal I'd appreciate any corrections if I'm mistaken on this, but I do believe the over the air update that was installed is the 353 version.
My Streak currently reads:
Baseband version: GAUSB1A135331-US
Build number 15697
marvin02 if you still think downloading and installing the the 353 ROM you linked to would help diagnose the issue I'd be more than happy to, please let me know.
cdzo72 I do plan on installing custom rom's and even getting into Android development in the near future but I do not have time for it yet. I would like to make sure I do not have a hardware problem before installing any custom rom's because it will be easier (less time consuming for me) to make a warranty claim if I need to. Unfortunately right now functional and limited is better than cutting edge and time consuming for me when it comes to my Streak.

data_loss said:
. . .
My Streak currently reads:
Baseband version: GAUSB1A135331-US
Build number 15697
marvin02 if you still think downloading and installing the the 353 ROM you linked to would help diagnose the issue I'd be more than happy to, please let me know.
. . .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A fresh install would eliminate (mostly) the possibility that your problem is caused by software, not hardware. If you still have the stock recovery on your phone you can just download the .pkg file, put it on your SD Card, rename it to update.pkg and boot into recovery to install.

I do still have the stock recovery.
I downloaded and installed the 353 ROM. It appears that the sensors are not working (no auto screen rotation). I also tried a factory reset after the update just for giggles, no change.
If I'm not mistaken the Streak_104_4399_21.pkg that can be downloaded from the streakdroid site is the official att&t 1.6 ROM. Would it be worth downloading and downgrading to that to test?
Or at this point do I just endure the call to dell support?

Is there any kind of documentation available for the fastboot menu on the streak? There seems to be options available for sensor stuff in there but I don't want to be just clicking through them without knowing what they do.

One hour on the phone ( which was not much fun ) and a couple days later and I have a replacement. It is a refurb, but in good condition and it works. Thanks all for the help.
Sent from my Dell Streak using XDA App

nTelos Milestone X 4.5.604 update

I've seen a lot of traffic since Monday about the nTelos Milestone X 4.5.604 update to GB. No one seems to have brought it up to here, but the update has bricked quite a few phones. My phone was bricked by a unsuccessful update, wasn't rooted, was stock. Boots in bootloader now.
Now the issue is, nTelos can't fix it, and their new policy is only to give refurbs as warranty. My phone is 2 weeks old, don't really want a refurb, and have a backup Milestone to use, in the meantime.
Anyone have anyway a way to get a hold of the sbf file? Any help would be appreciated.
It also looks as if the old sbf file (2.2.1) is an automatic brick also.

I think you need to call customer service and ream out a manager. Bottom line is the software update that "they and Motorola" pushed bricked your new, not refurb phone. It's not like you rooted it or installed a custom rom, or ran over it, or dropped it in the toilet. Their recommended software update bricked it. I would not stand for it.

Yay, I am no longer the only one here on nTelos!
Anyway, I recently OTA'd to the 4.5.604 update, and it went fine, even despite me being out of state. I was really surprised. But yeah, if you just got the phone, they should give you a replacement. They were more than willing when my MIN settings were messed up to send me a new phone, but they just took care of that over the phone.
I wish someone would release the .604 SBF for nTelos.

They didn't have any refurbs in stock (makes you wonder), so they replaced it with a new phone. Also, the employees haven't done the update....
I had a Samsung phone for 3 days with them, before the X. It's screen would lock up, so tech support told me to take it to the store. I did, and they replaced it with a refurb (without informing me). I got home, saw b-stock on the box. Additionally, it had the same issue (a model flaw apparently). They refused to do anything, so they got the phone back during the trial period.
That's how I got the X. I raised 4 kinds of hell. They gave me the X to shut me up.

success
I didnt have any issues here. I updated mine this morning.

My wife's identical phone also did not have a problem. So it's hit or miss.

nTelos 2
So far I havent been really impressed by the customer service and such. I too am with ntelos, I didnt know that I could find this many people!! Starting to learn with the milestone x what not to do. I would like to find a good guide and a rom that works with this phone. Still googling...

I have this phone with ntelos and I've used Miui and Liquid Gingerbread. I've also heard that gummyjar and liberty work as well but I've never tried them myself. miui is my fav thus far.

What process or guide did you use? I dont think that I have seen any out there. Also where did you get the ROM's? All that I have found havent been valid...Thanks in advance..

Well there used to be a forum for just ntelos android owners but it disappeared for whatever reason. I learned most of this stuff on that forum, so I'll try to help if I can.
You'd flash the rom just like you would if you were on any other carrier.
As for a guide, (and assuming you've already rooted your phone) addictivetips has a good one titled "How To Install A ROM Or App From Zip File To Android Device From Recovery" (Sorry the forums don't let me post links yet)
I've used this article a lot.
When looking at a rom I generally make sure it meets three requirements:
1. It's made specifically for the droid x or milestone x.
2. It doesn't flash a radio from another carrier. (I don't understand all the technical details so someone can correct me here. Almost all of the roms that I've found don't do this so you're safe. I just make sure in the description that it doesn't mention anything about flashing a radio.)
3. It is based off the Gingerbread kernel (since that's the version I'm running).
I'll try to post some links to some roms tomorrow. I've only tried a couple versions of miui and liquid Gingerbread. Let me know what else you need.

jdbell3 said:
Well there used to be a forum for just ntelos android owners but it disappeared for whatever reason. I learned most of this stuff on that forum, so I'll try to help if I can.
You'd flash the rom just like you would if you were on any other carrier.
As for a guide, (and assuming you've already rooted your phone) addictivetips has a good one titled "How To Install A ROM Or App From Zip File To Android Device From Recovery" (Sorry the forums don't let me post links yet)
I've used this article a lot.
When looking at a rom I generally make sure it meets three requirements:
1. It's made specifically for the droid x or milestone x.
2. It doesn't flash a radio from another carrier. (I don't understand all the technical details so someone can correct me here. Almost all of the roms that I've found don't do this so you're safe. I just make sure in the description that it doesn't mention anything about flashing a radio.)
3. It is based off the Gingerbread kernel (since that's the version I'm running).
I'll try to post some links to some roms tomorrow. I've only tried a couple versions of miui and liquid Gingerbread. Let me know what else you need.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i cant get my x to flash the recovery so i can install roms. any ideas?

HTCIR gone Android 6.0

Hi,
Working quite for sometimes on an APP ( not published for the moment ) to make your own remote control.
I started it first with Samsung GS4 and purchased last year the ONE M8 for its TRUE IR leaning capability ( love truly the device )
Now since the update to Android 6.0 ( I use T-MOBILE NL ) HTCIR blasting/learning is gone, the standard Android IR CONSUMER still working.
It's a pity and I have sent a message toHTC but doubt this will go anywhere.
I believe the problem is not the SDK (HTCIR.JAR) but the ROM / KERNEL somehow removed that feature.
My question being, is anyone aware of that issue. Not sure if there is any solution? anyone an idea? (rooting changing ROM etc..but what's the point) or the reason from HTC why this got removed ( voluntary or not )
I guess I will purchase a second hand HTC ONE M7 as I believe it will never receive Android 6 update and from what I believe it has learning capability like the M8 right ?
THANKS
If you are curious about the APP you can see this thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2290996
It is no longer upated but lot happened since in the APP and I really wanted to post the APP for HTC one user.
Here video on last version including learning capability when it worked fine/

I can confirm IR Recording is not working on MM. Tried several apps without success.

cant you just downgrade to lollipop ? or is that just a dumb idea.

Thanks for the answer and sorry for late reply.
About downgrading, yes this is what I will do, truly that learning capability was great and just don't understand why they removed ( if intentional ) this say I know IR start to go away even blaster IE Samsung EDGE 7. So only half surprised but when you compare the usefulness of a very un-precise HR monitor VS IR blaster/leaning IMO it does no make sense...
Now my HTC ONE M8 is from T-MOBILE NL and is not s-off.... So RUU is not possible AFAIK. So will have to ROOT it, this is no issue ( I did once) but not sure if I can flash IE HTC_One_M8_Lollipop_5.1_LMY47O.H9.zip (ORIGINAL from HTC) via TWRP without issues...I say this because when I got the HTC one M8 not knowing much about it I broke WIFI ( no longer switched on ) and T-MOBILE wad nice enough to replace the phone. So if anyone can confirm I can do this of course at my own risk...
Thanks

questionmark said:
Thanks for the answer and sorry for late reply.
About downgrading, yes this is what I will do, truly that learning capability was great and just don't understand why they removed ( if intentional ) this say I know IR start to go away even blaster IE Samsung EDGE 7. So only half surprised but when you compare the usefulness of a very un-precise HR monitor VS IR blaster/leaning IMO it does no make sense...
Now my HTC ONE M8 is from T-MOBILE NL and is not s-off.... So RUU is not possible AFAIK. So will have to ROOT it, this is no issue ( I did once) but not sure if I can flash IE HTC_One_M8_Lollipop_5.1_LMY47O.H9.zip (ORIGINAL from HTC) via TWRP without issues...I say this because when I got the HTC one M8 not knowing much about it I broke WIFI ( no longer switched on ) and T-MOBILE wad nice enough to replace the phone. So if anyone can confirm I can do this of course at my own risk...
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need s-off to flash roms, only for ruu's
If you restore the nandroid from this thread you should be fine http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2701376

questionmark said:
but not sure if I can flash IE HTC_One_M8_Lollipop_5.1_LMY47O.H9.zip (ORIGINAL from HTC) via TWRP without issues...I say this because when I got the HTC one M8 not knowing much about it I broke WIFI ( no longer switched on ) and T-MOBILE wad nice enough to replace the phone. So if anyone can confirm I can do this of course at my own risk...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean WiFi didn't work after you flashed a custom ROM? If so, this is usually due to firmware (hboot, radio, etc.) being too old, such as KK firmware, and you flashed a LP ROM.
But going "back" such as the case of what you want to do (running a LP ROM with MM firmware) is usually not an issue. Meaning, the firmware is usually backwards compatible. And in fact, there doesn't seem to be much difference between LP and MM firmware; no reports of broken WiFi that I've seen, even going forwards.
In any case, do a TWRP backup of your current setup (as you always should before flashing a ROM), and you can easily revert if you flash a ROM and run into issues.

Many thanks for the reply.
Since I have ONE M8 T-MOBILE NL it is hard if not impossible to find the RUU and anyway no s-off.
So I will go with that nandroid backup busy right now with it.
The WIFI issue I had was back one year ago or so when I unlocked the boot, installed TWRP, routed the phone and installed a marshmallow ROM and kaboom... could not get wifi back so went to T-MOBILE NL and they changed the phone no question asked this was after only couple days I got it. Thsi chilled me to play with HTC and custom ROM ( I'm more familiar with Samsung )
The fact that HTC removed learning capability somehow demotivated me on my project though I have a server for my APP that uses USB-UIRT if I need learning capability. But for sure HTC ONE M8 for me at the time was the best and the difference with the other.
So I will revert / try that ROM so to have truly universal remote control and be again motivated
Again many thanks for your reply that gives me extra confidence in proceeding AGAIN I KNOW AT MY OWN RISK, but I have nothing to loose I have another phone and intend to use now the HTC ONE M8 as a glorified remote control.
Thanks
redpoint73 said:
You mean WiFi didn't work after you flashed a custom ROM? If so, this is usually due to firmware (hboot, radio, etc.) being too old, such as KK firmware, and you flashed a LP ROM.
But going "back" such as the case of what you want to do (running a LP ROM with MM firmware) is usually not an issue. Meaning, the firmware is usually backwards compatible. And in fact, there doesn't seem to be much difference between LP and MM firmware; no reports of broken WiFi that I've seen, even going forwards.
In any case, do a TWRP backup of your current setup (as you always should before flashing a ROM), and you can easily revert if you flash a ROM and run into issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I managed to flash HTC_One_M8_Lollipop_5.1_LMY47O.H9 and no wifi issue so that is good but it seems that the GPE ROM only has the blasting capability from the standard google class ConsumerIrManager and does not support ConsumerIrManagerHtc hence no learning ...
If anyone could provide me a link of a stock nandroid HTC ROM Lollipop 5.1 (not GPE) I'be be very grateful... Even if I loose phone.
Of course better would be CID T-MOB003 but I did not find...
Thanks

questionmark said:
If anyone could provide me a link of a stock nandroid HTC ROM Lollipop 5.1 (not GPE) I'be be very grateful... Even if I loose phone.
Of course better would be CID T-MOB003 but I did not find...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock TWRP nandroid backup (Sense LP for your CID) is posted here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/htc-one-m8/help/tutorial-how-to-stock-stock-twrp-t3086860
Note that this is not a flashable ROM zip, but rather a TWRP backup. So you'll need to unzip the folder contents, transfer to proper location on the phone, and RESTORE in TWRP (not INSTALL). See tutorial steps 4 through 9 (then reboot). You shouldn't need to do the remaining steps.

redpoint73 said:
Stock TWRP nandroid backup (Sense LP for your CID) is posted here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/htc-one-m8/help/tutorial-how-to-stock-stock-twrp-t3086860
Many many thanks for that. Was busy last 2 weeks but got it to work first finding a KitKat rom (before your post) working fine with HTCIR blast/learning and then installed fine the above all working fine as it used to be before the Marshmallow update that IMO regressed in this sense in HTC sense removing IR learning (I bought the device exactly for that unique capability). The good things is now since I did backup of both ROM I can test my APP on both and think about people using M7 that might want to keep this older device to actually have a powerful universal remote control with IR PRONTO hex learning capability. Still very busy with that APP and I hope to post / update it soon here for the M7/M8 users still on HTC sense ROM with IR learning capability.
Again many thanks for pointing me at the right link, I searched searched but missed it somehow.
Cheers
PS: M10 still kept the IR blasting for what I know, not sure about learning? anyone knows?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Hi Chaps,
Ive just noticed this post, is this definitley official then, no IR in Marshmallow??, i hope they sort it in the future then, ill be dropping back down to LP myself for now.