Database Users

[Q] rooting methods with old and new MT4G

i have a MT4G since the day it came out..i didnt know anything about rooting and stuff like that, until a friend told me about it so i came here. i didnt root my phone about 4 months after i got it. i did the visionary method and worked 1st shot thanx to mackster248. im really pissed right now. my sister just bought one a couple of days ago. well i just got done messing with the phone. and no luck..i did everything to the T. i was reading on a couple of forums about this. people have said there is different radios or some crap like that or a chip in the newer MT4G so.. i have no idea. i need help. she is complaining that the battery life sucks on it and i agree.. thats why i rooted mine. so i need help..

well there has been an issue going around lately with a bad eMMC chip, causing fail-pu errors or something of the sort. and there have been rumors of the newer mT4G's released with the bad chip, but not certain about that yet...

If your sister's phone is updated to Gingerbread - then you're out of luck. Might try Gingerbreak for temp-root instead of Visionary, maybe it'll help.
Here's a thread to watch:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1101898

Jack_R1 said:
If your sister's phone is updated to Gingerbread - then you're out of luck. Might try Gingerbreak for temp-root instead of Visionary, maybe it'll help.
Here's a thread to watch:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1101898
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No she aint on gingerbread she's on 2.2.1 I was going to try the gfree method Idk
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA Premium App

In that case, there are 2 options:
1) You're messing something up and not following directions 100% / the directions are missing steps.
2) You're trying root.sh method and your phone has a potentially bad eMMC chip, which is why it won't root. Following true S-OFF method with gfree (look in Developers section) will root you, but be warned - your eMMC chip might fail.

Jack_R1 said:
In that case, there are 2 options:
1) You're messing something up and not following directions 100% / the directions are missing steps.
2) You're trying root.sh method and your phone has a potentially bad eMMC chip, which is why it won't root. Following true S-OFF method with gfree (look in Developers section) will root you, but be warned - your eMMC chip might fail.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok what can I do about the bad emmc chip can i get a replacement phone.. and what happens when i do the gfree method with a bad emmc chip. I know for sure I'm not doing it wrong on doing it the same way I did my.phone and I did my.phone.first shot. But this was.months ago when I rooted my phone
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA Premium App

concerning the bad eMMC chip, theres not much you can do about that right now. some members are working hard on it trying to figure things out. usually, gfree is the recommended method that works with phones with the bad chip. I would tell you to make a nandroid backup and flash the stock PD15IMG.zip, but seeing as you have the bad chip, I dont want to cause the chance of screwing anything up. you could try downloading the stock nandroid backup and restoring that through clockwork, then try rooting with gfree again. that might work...

[Q] Rooting methods

So, I tried to read up on how to start rooting my mytouch.
I see these options:
1. TRUE PermaRoot and the ULTIMATE S=Off!!! Check this out even if you're rooted!!! (Posted By grankin01)
2. Guide to permaroot, s=off AND s=on!!!!! (Posted By grankin01)
3. VISIONary+ permaroots MT4G (Posted By allen099)
4. [GUIDE] How to s= off with "su" and how to flash rom---Noob's (Posted By topgun303)
I'm not understanding how or why there are 4 ways when clearly, from my reading, there are people who say "gfree" (whichever that is) is not the preferred method?
This is confusing, isn't it? I can't be the only one confused by this??

tinpanalley said:
So, I tried to read up on how to start rooting my mytouch.
I see these options:
1. TRUE PermaRoot and the ULTIMATE S=Off!!! Check this out even if you're rooted!!! (Posted By grankin01)
2. Guide to permaroot, s=off AND s=on!!!!! (Posted By grankin01)
3. VISIONary+ permaroots MT4G (Posted By allen099)
4. [GUIDE] How to s= off with "su" and how to flash rom---Noob's (Posted By topgun303)
I'm not understanding how or why there are 4 ways when clearly, from my reading, there are people who say "gfree" (whichever that is) is not the preferred method?
This is confusing, isn't it? I can't be the only one confused by this??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are only one method to root our phones. VISIONary.apk. That is the only rooting tool we have.
People feel they need to re-post what has already been posted several times. I know i am guilty of it as well, but here is the short and sweet of it.
Now there are two different ways that turn the Security Protocol off. One is the ./gfree method, which can be found here http://bit.ly/rm19ii. And the root.sh method, which can be found here http://bit.ly/nC4zmL.
now with that being said our phones have two eMMC chipsets in them. One is a known good one, and one is a known bad one. The root.sh method will only root phones with good eMMC chips. so if you try that one and it fails. Either one of two things are going on. 1) you are doing it wrong or 2) you have a bad eMMC. If you use the ./gfree method it will root the phone regardless of the eMMC chip. That is why they say the root.sh is the "preferred method". It will not mess up your phone. A rooted phone with a bad eMMC chip is bound to go bad, don't know when, nor do we know how it will go. But it's going to go.....

Wow, in just a few sentences you cleared up pages and pages and pages and posts of confusion. Thank you SO MUCH. Maybe I'm just an idiot but I wasn't understanding it at all.
Ok, my next questions are...
1. What is accomplished when you "turn the Security Protocol off"?
2. How do I know which eMMC chipset I have? I rooted my mytouch 4G months ago and can't remember the process I used. How can I tell which one I did? Although I don't think I did anything with security protocols?

tinpanalley said:
Wow, in just a few sentences you cleared up pages and pages and pages and posts of confusion. Thank you SO MUCH. Maybe I'm just an idiot but I wasn't understanding it at all.
Ok, my next questions are...
1. What is accomplished when you "turn the Security Protocol off"?
2. a) How do I know which eMMC chipset I have? I rooted my mytouch 4G months ago and can't remember the process I used. 2b) How can I tell which one I did? Although I don't think I did anything with security protocols?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) that is turning the s-on to s-off .
2a) http://bit.ly/nDEuuP That thread has alot of useful information in it.
2b) Given you haven't reformatted your card since you rooted your phone. If you used the ./gfree method you should have a file on your SDCard that looks unfamiliar. "Part7_something". If you have that, and have never reformatted your SDCard then you used ./gfree. If you don't have anything then chances are you've used the root.sh method. But i cannot answer your question honestly since it's nearly impossible for me to know how you rooted your phone

1. If I don't deal with security protocol, and ONLY worry about rooting my phone to get a ROM on there, can I address it after rooting?
2. Ok, I DO have that part7backup file on my sd card. Therefore, I must have done the gfree method and therefore I might have a bad eMMC but we can't be sure, correct? Ok, well in that case should I re-root (if that's even possible) my phone with the root.sh method?
3. The whole security protocol on or off controls the ability to unlock your phone for use with any SIM card correct? Anything else it does?

I was once confused as weel but i used gfree because it was the only way i could root because of the 86 bootloader. but the reason gfree is not preferred is because of the root.sh file
tinpanalley said:
So, I tried to read up on how to start rooting my mytouch.
I see these options:
1. TRUE PermaRoot and the ULTIMATE S=Off!!! Check this out even if you're rooted!!! (Posted By grankin01)
2. Guide to permaroot, s=off AND s=on!!!!! (Posted By grankin01)
3. VISIONary+ permaroots MT4G (Posted By allen099)
4. [GUIDE] How to s= off with "su" and how to flash rom---Noob's (Posted By topgun303)
I'm not understanding how or why there are 4 ways when clearly, from my reading, there are people who say "gfree" (whichever that is) is not the preferred method?
This is confusing, isn't it? I can't be the only one confused by this??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

tinpanalley said:
1. If I don't deal with security protocol, and ONLY worry about rooting my phone to get a ROM on there, can I address it after rooting?
If you did the ./gfree method you did infact truly root your phone. You have to turn that off prior to flashing anything.
2. Ok, I DO have that part7backup file on my sd card. Therefore, I must have done the gfree method and therefore I might have a bad eMMC but we can't be sure, correct? Ok, well in that case should I re-root (if that's even possible) my phone with the root.sh method?
1) unrooting and rerooting with root.sh will not change the fact that you might have bad eMMC chip. Those are bad regardless of the rooting method you used. And i posted a link to tell you how to verify if you have a bad chip. Or you can look for the "post your eMMC serial number" in the General Section
3. The whole security protocol on or off controls the ability to unlock your phone for use with any SIM card correct? Anything else it does?
The Security Protocol is the control that allow your phone to say in the rooted mode. It has nothing todo with the SIM lock on the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
all of my answer and in blue and bold.

"unrooting and rerooting with root.sh will not change the fact that you might have bad eMMC chip."
Ok, I was under the mistaken impression that doing it the wrong way could somehow ruin the chip later on.
"It has nothing todo with the SIM lock on the phone."
I thought I had read in one of the instructions that this also unlocked the phone. So I guess SIM unlocking is a whole other process then?

tinpanalley said:
"unrooting and rerooting with root.sh will not change the fact that you might have bad eMMC chip."
Ok, I was under the mistaken impression that doing it the wrong way could somehow ruin the chip later on.
"It has nothing todo with the SIM lock on the phone."
I thought I had read in one of the instructions that this also unlocked the phone. So I guess SIM unlocking is a whole other process then?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
one of the fringe benefits of the ./gfree method is a CID unlock but it's not synonymous with rooting phones

How do I know if Unlocked?

I'm a little confused on unlocking a carrier phone. My G2 is fully rooted,I;m running Cyanogen on it. But I'm not sure if I ever did the S-off stuff. Does that have anything to do with unlocked phones? Does having a rooted phone mean that its already unlocked? Or does unlocking a phone require more then just rooting.
And I would just check with someone else's sim card but I don't have any readily available.
Thanks!

Unlocking is different from rooting. Unlocking is hardware based that allows the use of other carriers with that phone. Unlocking is used with GSM phones. Rooting is software based that gives the user root access to the android os. Generally these two aren't linked, though for the G2 there is a tool AMT(correct me if I'm wrong) that performs rooting, s-off, an unlocking all in one. When you use tools to unlock a phone, not all radios are supported, and there is no guarantee that the tool will work. It's always easier to get an unlock code from the phone's carrier.
To check if a phone is unlocked, get a SIM card that is not normally used with the phone. (if the phone is att put a t-mo SIM card in it) if the phone is unlocked, you will gain service and will be able to place calls.
Hope this helped!

Actually, the OP said he doesn't have access to another SIM. Just go here to verify if you have unlocked and set SuperCID or not:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wik...ion#3._.28OPTIONAL.29_Verify_you_did_it_right

SuperDave81 said:
Actually, the OP said he doesn't have access to another SIM. Just go here to verify if you have unlocked and set SuperCID or not:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wik...ion#3._.28OPTIONAL.29_Verify_you_did_it_right
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, I read that and knew he didn't have another SIM card. That part I said about using another SIM was only for the explanation.

If you correctly used gfree to root, then you should be S-Off, SuperCID-ed, and unlocked all in one step.
Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk

Stargazer418 said:
If you correctly used gfree to root, then you should be S-Off, SuperCID-ed, and unlocked all in one step.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, if you did gfree, you are SIM-unlocked.

The thing is I don't think I used Gfree. I did it with terminal and adb push.
Assuming its not unlocked what steps should I take to unlock it? Should I reroot with gfree?

dwang93 said:
The thing is I don't think I used Gfree. I did it with terminal and adb push.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you used Gfree, as it uses the terminal and ADB push.
You must have used some exploit made by somebody else, such as gfree. You can't just get root and S-Off with ADB, unless you are some master hacker (in which case, you would not be asking these questions).

Yes, i did use another program, definitely not a master hacker. This was very early on, and I don't remember exactly what I did but it was more involved than gfree.
Anyways, I just checked using gfree verify and my phone is not unlocked, just rooted. So now the question is what to do next? I'm going to read over the wiki, but basically im just not sure how to just unlock the phone without the entire root process. Any help would be appreciated.

Check out zedomax's tutorial from g2hacks.com or YouTube. Or you can simply use Google magic
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

[Q] root.sh is not working

This is second myTouch 4G that refuses to get S-OFF via root.sh method. I have a good chip and I followed all the steps entirely several times.
Some said that it is impossible with a good chip. What am I missing?
PS: I'm using the Unlockr guide

Which guide are you following and what exactly happens when you get through all the steps?
I was having the same problem for a long time with mine despite following every step word for word. Whenever I ran root.sh it would only run for like 4 or 5 seconds and then stop itself, rather than the 20-30 seconds that most people seem to say is the usual. After like 20 failed attempts I decided to get rid of my soft root, redownload every file(including visionary) and try again and that seemed to work out for me.

Just saw your edit lol, try using this guide instead:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=858021
I feel like it gives pretty good directions. I'd also recommend redownloading your root.sh files from there as well. Perhaps a bad download left you with a dysfunctional script that won't root you properly.

AlanB412 said:
Which guide are you following and what exactly happens when you get through all the steps?
I was having the same problem for a long time with mine despite following every step word for word. Whenever I ran root.sh it would only run for like 4 or 5 seconds and then stop itself, rather than the 20-30 seconds that most people seem to say is the usual. After like 20 failed attempts I decided to get rid of my soft root, redownload every file(including visionary) and try again and that seemed to work out for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use this one:
http://theunlockr.com/2010/12/10/how-to-temporarily-root-the-t-mobile-mytouch-4g-htc-glacier/
And then Permroot steps.
It does it quick, and seem to finish without errors.

I just realized, I should've asked you this first because it makes a really big difference. Is your phone on Android 2.3.4 already? If you got the Gingerbread update from t-mobile there's currently no known way to get root.
The thread I linked you to will only work if your phone is still on Froyo

AlanB412 said:
I just realized, I should've asked you this first because it makes a really big difference. Is your phone on Android 2.3.4 already? If you got the Gingerbread update from t-mobile there's currently no known way to get root.
The thread I linked you to will only work if your phone is still on Froyo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nah, Im on latest froyo. Terminal Emulator keeps giving exactly same error: insmod: init_module '/sdcard/root/wpx.ko' failed (function not implemented)
PS: Search seem getting into a dead end. I will probably use gfree again

If I remember correctly, that function not implemented message is supposed to show up when you do it properly. After you get that message you're supposed turn phone off, reboot into hboot and it should say S= Off. Then after that you just have to reboot your phone again, head into Visionary, temproot one more time, and then click attempt PermRoot. Once your phone reboots you should have root.
After you get that "function not implemented" message does hboot still say S= On?

AlanB412 said:
If I remember correctly, that function not implemented message is supposed to show up when you do it properly.
After you get that message does hboot still say S= On?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeap. I just went and did it with gfree. Is it true that gfree causing eMMC to fail? I saw it somewhere in the forum

AntonJart said:
yeap. I just went and did it with gfree. Is it true that gfree causing eMMC to fail? I saw it somewhere in the forum
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I guess that works out for you then. As long as you have the good emmc chip you don't need to worry about the chip failure. Gfree can cause the chip failure for people with the bad chip though.
To revert back to stock after using the gfree method is a bit more annoying than usual though, regardless of what chip you have, because it does something to your radio in order to give you the permaroot. So if you ever do decide to unroot you'll have to take some extra steps to undo the gfree changes.
But that's only a problem if you want to unroot though lol

AlanB412 said:
Well I guess that works out for you then. As long as you have the good emmc chip you don't need to worry about the chip failure. Gfree can cause the chip failure for people with the bad chip though.
To revert back to stock after using the gfree method is a bit more annoying than usual though, regardless of what chip you have, because it does something to your radio in order to give you the permaroot. So if you ever do decide to unroot you'll have to take some extra steps to undo the gfree changes.
But that's only a problem if you want to unroot though lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On the first mytouch unrooting was quite easy. I recovered the back up (s-off still stayed) and then applied stock image. Thanks for your replies

help unrooting (before warranty expires)

I need to return my g2 for warranty reasons (part of the touchscreen doesn't respond) but I'm having alot of trouble unrooting it.
the bootloader never recognized the pc10IMG.zip on my sd card.
I'm wondering if it's an issue with my bootloader?
I have S-OFF
HBOOT-0.76.2000 (PC1010000)
MICROP-0425
RADIO-26.03.02.26_M
eMMC-boot
any help will be greatly appreciated!

after having this issue for about 3 months, I've finally got it.
Formated a 2 gb sdcard and used that instead, it worked.

My rom is now stock, and so is my recovery, but the bootloader still looks the same, with fastboot and the skateboarding androids and everything.
is that the stock bootloader? I can't really remember, would like to make sure before I send it in.

Yes the bootloader is stock.
The only thing you might need to change is S-OFF back to S-ON
-Nipqer

s- on is a must *from experience*

MRguyandhis2 said:
s- on is a must *from experience*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What experience ?
I've swapped 3 g2's on hardware defects, no issues, very smooth process. I'm about to swap my last g2 for a cracked camera lens cover, if the warrantee is still valid. Yes, I received this g2 as a warrantee replacement, and notified them of the crack on arrival.
I keep reading about people having issues with warrantte, but never specifics.

lucky I didn't send it in yet, I completely forgot to check for S-off.
I'll have to check later, looks like I'm not sending it back till Saturday anyhow, but it's not as if I can actually use it while it's on stock since I'm on at&t and it's locked
when I was rooted with gfree, it unlocked itself, but now it's locked again, anyway to unlock it without voiding warranty? if not it's hardly going to matter.
Update: I put my sim in it and it's still unlocked! Hooray!
>update (again) : I can make calls, but no data
>>update: I'm absent minded sometimes.. that was because I needed to set att's apn
Also:
How do I check exactly (sorry, noob question) I can look for it a little more thoroughly tomorrow

don't think they care about the root, sent mine in many times with rooted roms and they seem to send my replacements and I'm on t-mobile, but just to be sure I don't think they care about S-on or off they might just care if the rom is significantly different like sense roms

I'm just really trying to make sure I get it unrooted correctly.
according to the guy on the phone, If I don't qualify for the warranty, my options will be to either pay for the repair, or pay $34 for their diagnostics on it (WTF?).
and the repair is going to be $100, since they'll going to replace the whole screen, even though I'm pretty sure the only issue is with the ribbon cable.
It's not going to hurt to make sure I have S-On, and it could potentially save me a lot of cash, so I might as well do it.
I'm pretty sure I only have to type something into the terminal emulator to find out?
not sure what that was though..

Well, my boot loader says S-off, and I can't figure out how to make it S-on since I don't have a part-7[something].bin on my SDcard.
from what I can find, I think I can make it S-on by using the official RUU, but I'm having trouble finding this, and almost tried to flash an ruu from the european HTC Hero (aka G2) by mistake.
[it's quite annoying that people call that the forums label that phone the G2 even though I don't think htc or any other carrier does in any case]
any help here? can I use somebody else's backup or would that result in a brick?
any alternative methods?
Update:
well apparently I can "Use gfree to set secu_flag = 1 and CID = T-MOB010 (or your corresponding original CID)."
although I'm not sure exactly how to do that.
I pretty sure it means that I could Gfree to gain temporary root, and then use the Terminal emulator to open up and modify a particular file in the system, and change the value of the parameter "secu_flag" to 1 (I'm not a complete n00b)
as for the CID, I think I may already have it set correctly, but it never hurts to check.
Am I on the right track?

almost right track.
Use psneuter to get temp-root, then run
./gfree -s on -c TMOB_010 (or whatever the cd is meant to be)
though psneuter only works for adb shell so you can't use term emulator to unroot.
and gfree only works on the 1.19 rom.
-Nipqer

If the screen is broken I believe all they do is change the screen and flash sense back on to it. I sent mine in with the screen not working and got the phone back with sense installed again + s-off. It looks like (for mine) they didn't care that it was rooted simply because it was a hardware fault and therefore did not matter whether it was rooted or not.
It is up to you whether or not you want to risk it, but with mine it was ok
Will check back with this thread when I get back from work in case I can help further!
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

video
Zedomax has a guide on how to unroot the g2 on youtube. (not allowed to post a link)

I still can't get the S-off
Zedomax's video tutorial was pretty useless, he did the same thing I did, then booted into the bootloader and said "wierd it still says S-off..."
as for the the psneuters thing:
$ adb shell /data/local/tmp/psneuter kept getting permission denied
eventually I gave up and used vissionary to temp root.
then I pushed and did the chmod 777 step with gfree
but "# /data/local/tmp/gfree -s on -c T-MOB010" led to "/data/local/tmp/gfree: permission denied"
maybe I should try the "rage against the cage" root method?
I'm on 1.19.531 btw