UPDATE: The HTC Developers official unlock does not seem to allow the flashing of most, possibly all custom ROMs. The best advice is to re-lock the bootloader using the official tool, and then use the Advanced Ace Hack Kit to root and S-OFF your phone.
I've seen quite a few threads in Q&A recently where people have used the official bootloader unlock at the HTCDev website, then tried to flash a custom ROM and got stuck. The most common problem seems to be that they get stuck in the bootloader, or they flash a ROM but it hangs at the splash screen.
The best advice so far seems to be to flash a stock ROM, re-lock the bootloader, and then use the Advanced Ace Hack Kit to get S-OFF and root in the "usual" way. However one poor guy couldn't even get that far and ended up sending his phone off to HTC, although I think he tried running the AAHK without re-locking his bootloader first.
I'm not an expert on what the official unlock does and how it differs from our usual S-OFF methods. The HTC website indicates that their unlock lifts security on the boot, recovery and system images, but not on radio or sim-locks. To me that sounds enough to flash a custom ROM, but I'm not an expert and clearly a lot of people are having trouble.
I think it might be helpful to have a warning here on the DHD forums - if you want to unlock your phone, use the AAHK or any of the similar tools here. Don't use the HTCDev unlock method - at least until we better understand what's causing people these problems.
If anyone understands the technical differences between the HTC tool and the Radio S-OFF methods, or what's causing people to have these problems, please explain here so we can all understand it better! I'm slightly worried when trying to help people with advice, because if I get it wrong I might make things worse for them. And I don't really want to use the HTCDev tool myself to experiment.
If the HTC unlock itself is fine, but people are doing something wrong after using it, then perhaps once we know what that is, it can be put in a sticky? Or if the best advice is to avoid the HTC unlock method altogether, perhaps that should be stickied instead? (Or is there already a warning up that I've missed?)
It would be good if we as a community could come up with some clear advice, and maybe save people a lot of stress and hassle.
Yes, as a clueless person I would really welcome any expert guidance on this, I want to install other ROMs and if I can do it via 'official' methods all the better.
I experienced this exact same problem. I was expecting that unlocking meant getting root access but obviously this was not not the case so then I used the Ace Hack Kit which got stuck at flashing the ROM for downgrade. It showed the message in a quick flash (I had to record the screen it to see it) stating that the zip file content was not correct. Luckily the guys at the IRC help channel pointed me directly to the cause... the bootloader was unlocked and re-locking it would solve it.
Unfortunately the 'fastboot oem lock' method did not work right away. I re-installed HTC-sync (removed it before according Ace guide) and this got it working again so that I could re-lock. After this the whole Ace procedure worked fine and I now have root.
My advise would be to at least include a line on re-locking before start in the EFFEN manual and ensure that HTC-sync is installed for the relock (and remove it afterwards of course)
Thanks pamarama, that's exactly the kind of info I was hoping for regarding HTC Sync.
Do you know if AAHK also requires a working ROM on the phone before you start?
Some people don't have a working ROM, so I've been recommending that as well as re-locking the bootloader, they flash an RUU so there's a bootable ROM on the phone before they try AAHK.
Hi preacher65,
I honestly don't know if a working rom is required. I guess that the AAHK experts would be able to answer this question. I had a working rom at least but I can imagine that in order to do the downgrade the only thing that needs to be intact is the data that triggers AAHK to do the downgrade. If that flash succeeds you should have a working rom again.
From reading other threads, what I think the issue is that one simply can't install a rom. After flashing a rom one has to install a new boot image to actually get it to boot
The problem with HTC Dev unlock is that it doesn't allow boot.img to be flashed in any mode other than fastboot.
You can flash a custom rom, but then have to extract the boot.img from the zip and flash it via fastboot. Thats why everyone gets stuck on splash screen.
-Nipqer
pamarama said:
Hi preacher65,
I honestly don't know if a working rom is required. I guess that the AAHK experts would be able to answer this question. I had a working rom at least but I can imagine that in order to do the downgrade the only thing that needs to be intact is the data that triggers AAHK to do the downgrade. If that flash succeeds you should have a working rom again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks - I think you might need a working, rooted ROM to get SHIP S-OFF. At least you did in the days before the AAHK. Not sure if that works any differently. I'll check the manual to see if explains how it works.
marsdta said:
From reading other threads, what I think the issue is that one simply can't install a rom. After flashing a rom one has to install a new boot image to actually get it to boot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I think you're right. The HTC unlock says it unlocks the boot image, but it does seem as if people aren't able to flash a boot image as part of the ROM. Possibly due to most ROMs having custom kernels, perhaps?
I believe that all the developer opened firmwares still have restrictions in place, someone correct me if I'm wrong but that is generally what happens when a hardware manufacturer releases an unlocked bootloader. Your best bet is to use the Advanced Ace Hack kit then use Android Terminal Emulator to flash your bootloader with the ENG S-OFF version. Then you have complete control and freedom in your device.
I would type up all the specifics but there are many guides on the subjects above.
MP2E said:
I believe that all the developer opened firmwares still have restrictions in place
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I'm sure you're right. What I'm really trying to find out is what those specific restrictions are - or failing that, just come up with a solid, workable solution for those people who have already tried the HTC unlock and are now stuck.
So far the solution seems to be to re-lock the bootloader and then use the AAHK. But some people I've tried to help in Q&A have been unable to flash a PD98IMG.zip or RUU, even after re-locking, to get a stock ROM back on their phone so they could run the Hack Kit.
FWIW my own phone was rooted over a year ago, using Visionary and running sfjuocekr's scripts inside Android Terminal Emulator to fhash hboot and CWM manually from the command line. Which is why I'm not very familiar with what the AAHK needs to run, but I assume it needs a working ROM to get Radio S-OFF.
Related
This may be a lame post, but I keep seeing people talk about how roms will not work if you used unrevoked. I don't understand why there would be a difference. If you root, install a Engineering SPL and a recovery image....after that you flash with whatever you want. Why on earth would it matter? Once you have an Engineering SPL, and your system partition is writable, you can wipe the whole phone and put what ever you want on...why on earth would it matter if you used unrevoked??
Am I missing something? Are people just assuming that you aren't fully rooted?? If so they should really be more clear.
root yes but unrevoked doesnt unlock nand
Maybe I misunderstood, I thought NAND was locked by the HBOOT and I thought that by replacing your SPL with the Engineering SPL you were changing the HBOOT version, thus unlocking NAND.
I don't think Toast's root process does this. I thought it was the same as unrevoked and simply gave your root access to user space on the os via su. I thought that regardless of which version you used to gain your root, you still had to use Toast's unlock nand process to load the Engineering SPL and gain full nand r/w and load a permanent recovery image.
I think this is just a misunderstanding from most people about os level root vs engineering SPL/nand unlocking. If so, I wish people would just start referring to it in their ROM posts as "you must have unlocked nand or be running the engineering SPL" vs tying that in with root, as it's pretty confusing. Maybe I'm wrong though, I haven't had my evo long and alot of my knowledge about root/SPL is from my previous experience with my mt3g.
Thanks
if you just run unrevoked you don't get unlocked nand, so you flash the engineering spl and you get unlocked nand so your not running "just" unrevoked, lots of people run unrevoked and never flash the engineering spl but they think they can run anything and everything, then they are surprised when they can't ... try just running unrevoked without unlocking nand and see what happens. if everything works properly let us know. Unrevoked just opens a hole while in HBOOT as soon as HBOOt is closed poof no more hole. so yes you can flash while the whole is open then try to read write to the /system and see what happens. Sorry this was a jumble ....
I had so many issues after running Unrevoked and even Simpleroot. It was my first experience with flashing new ROMs on any Android phone so I wanted to do it the "easy" way to save time.
The funny part is that I wasted so much time trying to get things working that the 20 minutes I spent doing it all from scratch were no big deal. Wish I had done it that way from the start.
Once I went through the 2 part method posted on this forum I have had no issues that weren't just related to unsupported features.
neodorian said:
I had so many issues after running Unrevoked and even Simpleroot. It was my first experience with flashing new ROMs on any Android phone so I wanted to do it the "easy" way to save time.
The funny part is that I wasted so much time trying to get things working that the 20 minutes I spent doing it all from scratch were no big deal. Wish I had done it that way from the start.
Once I went through the 2 part method posted on this forum I have had no issues that weren't just related to unsupported features.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Toasts?
I am pretty sure I want Amon-Ra...and not clockwork though. Hmm.
Sorry, yes it was Toast's method. All of the simplified versions gave me issues where certain things weren't done properly and since I hadn't done it manually with any kind of real feedback it caused issues down the line. I had to start over from the beginning to get things all working properly. Not sure where I screwed up but Toast's method fixed it.
I also use Amon RA's recovery. Only thing about that is that ROM updater that comes with Fresh's ROM doesn't want to work without Clockwork. I'll probably just delete it.
Right now, the previous rage/Visionary rooting methods do *not* work with the latest 1.72 ROMs for the Desire Z.
UPDATE - If you have upgraded to 1.72 already without S-OFF, then a temp root has been achieved for 1.72, which gives you the capability to downgrade to an earlier ROM (e.g. 1.34) where you can permanent root. The "psneuter" procedure is at via this procedure - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=905261
UPDATE 2 - This "psneuter" procedure can be used to achieve permanent root. If you obtain S-OFF at an earlier ROM level, *then* update to 1.72, you can get permaroot with psneuter, then use the usual methods to lock this in as a permanent root. This is because the S-OFF means the NAND write protection will not be enabled. If you are already at 1.72 without S-OFF, you will have to downgrade, obtain S-OFF, then upgrade again.
This ROM version is being rolled out as an OTA update to European DZ users. So far it doesn't seem to have been rolled out to other DZ carriers, e.g. Bell, Vodafone, though I suspect that it is only a matter of time.
This update does not *yet* affect the G2 running the stock T-Mobile ROM, though again I suspect this update will make its way to the G2 in time (so you might wish to turn off automatic checks for updates if you want to avoid the possibility).
This is an example of what is in the warning thread at the top of the forum, i.e. don't upgrade to this until we know how you can root it, assuming you are interested in root (which I think most, though not all, people here are).
I've tried all kinds of stuff but nothing works.
I've even made a goldcard with a PC10IMG.zip (rom extracted from RUU) but it gives me an error: MAIN VERSION OLD
So flashing back to an older version.............forget it!!
RUU, Visionary and Gfree method will not work with this stupid update!
Does anyone know what's in the 1.72 release that we're missing ? (And therefore whether its worth S-On & de-rooting)
Ramsfan_Jim said:
Does anyone know what's in the 1.72 release that we're missing ? (And therefore whether its worth S-On & de-rooting)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Virtuous ROM includes all the stuff in 1.72 already. So there's no point derooting and going S-ON, just install Virtuous.
Sticky worthy untill a solution is found.
rmk40 already found a solution to rooting these newer builds, but it requires changes to the SuperUser app. He's submitted those to the author but there hasn't been a new version release yet.
Hm,I`m now on stock 1.34.405.5 Firmware (RUU_Vision_HTC_WWE_1.34.405.5_Radio_12.28b.60.140e _26.03.02.26_M)
but rooted and S-OFF with UBERROOT method!
Now if I flashing this Firmware I still have S-OFF but I lose
Root and can`t Root again right?
The same happens if I trie this Root and S-OFF method and flashing
the new Firmware:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=HTC_Vision#Rooting_the_G2
If you are desperate to try it, nandroid backup, google "extract rom.zip from ruu" and install through recovery.
..sent from my CyanogenMod'd HTC Vision
That will not work. I've already tried it.
maus010 said:
That will not work. I've already tried it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why not?
..sent from my CyanogenMod'd HTC Vision
Glad there is a dedicated thread for this. I have applied the OTA (stupid me... should have read this forum first) and am now looking forward to getting root again so i can do SetCPU to underclock when screen off..
I'm happy to do any testing for those who get anythin working.
Also noticed in this new ROM (OTA) that when i plug in my wall charger, it goes straight into "CAR PANEL"?!
When i use the official HTC cable it does not - but when using a mini USB cable + micro USB adapter, it goes straight into car mode.
Does this have the same issue if you just flash the radio?
wileykat said:
Why not?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because it gives me an error: MAIN VERSION OLD
So it wil not flash.
As long as you still have a custom recovery (i.e. Clockwork), I can help. See the thread I just created here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=886999
If not, sorry I cannot help. Obtaining root again is for the black hats around here.
I wont root my DZ since setCPU profiles dont work.
rmk40 said:
As long as you still have a custom recovery (i.e. Clockwork), I can help. See the thread I just created here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=886999
If not, sorry I cannot help. Obtaining root again is for the black hats around here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your help.
But the OTA update also flashed the bootloader and recovery back to stock.
The only thing positive with this update is the batterylife.
It hase improved bigtime!
Agree - battery seems heaps better.
Is anyone working on this? Got my DZ and subconsciously accepted.
Am now because I need to keep using the damn power button to wake it up!
zappoo said:
Also noticed in this new ROM (OTA) that when i plug in my wall charger, it goes straight into "CAR PANEL"?!
When i use the official HTC cable it does not - but when using a mini USB cable + micro USB adapter, it goes straight into car mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's a note in the manual for the DZ that says if you use an adapter it will think it's plugged into a car kit.
Hi all,
today i discovered something strange and i like to get your opinion on that:
I am not able to do s-off things in fastboot even if i have s-off!
Situation:
Phone: Desire Z
HBOOT: stock 0.85.0005
FW: 1.34..
Rooted: did root, supercid and s-off via gfree and verified via gfree_verify - even hboot showes up S-OFF
ROM: GingerVillain 1.5
Recovery: ClockworkMod 3.0.0.5
Problem:
First of all, i myself have no problem, but i started experimenting after a friend semi-bricked his desire z with same setup.
I did a nandroid backup and when i boot into hboot and do a 'fastboot flash recovery recovery.img' (with my nandroid recovery.img) i always get a remote: not allowed.
Now from my point of view this should only happen if I have a S-ON and should be impossible with S-OFF ?! Even using 'fastboot oem rebootRUU' does not change anything.
The thing that concerns me about that is: If something destroys both system and recovery, your pretty much screwed + bricked because hboot is not allowed to write to something other then cache and all of this basic stuff doesn't work:
- flash recovery with CW
- flash a complete zip
- flash an other hboot
- RUU
When I rooted my phone i have read everywhere that eng-hboots are not necessary any longer. But it appears that they are the only thing that helps and you have to install them as long as you have a working ROM.
Any thoughts on that issue / can you reproduce this / are fastboot actions logged anywhere?
You need a ENG. HBoot to use fastboot commands, doesn't matter if your s-off.
yeah, i came to the same conclusion..
is there any chance to flash a eng-hboot from a bricked 0.85.0005? i did some experimentation with a goldcard, but at least remote commands didn't change in behaviour..
I think being full-bricked when something goes wrong and not having an eng-hboot already installed is not an acceptable solution for most people here
DragonTEC said:
yeah, i came to the same conclusion..
is there any chance to flash a eng-hboot from a bricked 0.85.0005?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
maybe thru a modified PC10IMG.zip
I think being full-bricked when something goes wrong and not having an eng-hboot already installed is not an acceptable solution for most people here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My thoughts exactly, its kind of a safety if you can't boot into android.
i'm not sure if a PC10IMG.zip will help at all.. my friend tried flashing both 1.34 and 1.72 RUU ROMs as PC10IMG and this didn't change anything.. in fact, the 1.72 even didn' install the new .00008 hbott, so i thing there is some heavy write protection in the hboot making it more or less useless..
what i can imagine that works is aa gokldcard with sppimg.zip, but i haven't yet found one for the desire z..
i have the feeling that this is a huge problem because with a short research i have found at least 3 threads of people having bricked their phone exactly this way and are now stuck.. some of the experts here might pay attention to this problem and in my opinion you should also consider removing the 'a eng-hboot is not needed, don't use it' advice from the rooting section of the wiki..
So what exactly is your problem.
You destroyed recovery and system?
If yes, and you used gfree to get Super-CID just install an PC10IMG that has a version higher or equal to the main version in you misc partition. And then do the whole downgrading, rooting, flashing recovery again.
If you are not Super-CID you might need a goldcard in addition if the CID of the phone is not supported by the PC10IMG that you whant to install.
have fun Guhl
It is almost impossible to brick this phone. The only possible way might be a failed copy of the eng-hboot and this is why the warning is and stays in the wiki.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
I thought so, too, but when flashing a newer original RUU using the PC10IMG.zip, the flash process runs okay, but after the restart nothing (still hangs in HTC screen, no new hboot) changes so apparently no changes are made..
So from my point of view the phone is more or less bricked.. i guess maybe some custome PC10IMG with an eng-hboot might change this, but i only found one for the G2 and wasn't able to find one for the DZ.. Thats why I thing that removing the 'UNNECESSARY' advice is justified (of course i don't want the warning advice that this can brick the phone to be removed)..
Just wondering why this is so special? I flashed just for the hell of it but now I'm kinda curious why the devs and a few others recommend it.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
If you do run into an issue like a soft brick, it is easier to fix your phone as it allows you to use fastboot on your computer. I'm no pro, but I am pretty sure that is the correct answer, I'm sure someone else will chime in.
if thats the case, thats pretty nice. may explain why i couldnt flash a splash screen through fastboot before i flashed the engineering bootloader.
mustk1ll20 said:
if thats the case, thats pretty nice. may explain why i couldnt flash a splash screen through fastboot before i flashed the engineering bootloader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reason alot of us recommend it is pretty simple. HTC Locks the bootloader so we cannot flash specific images to our phone. OR Specific sections of a ROM build. If you can flash the Engineering screen it will allow you to flash stuff from the HBoot. SO if you find your self in pickle and the phone will not mount specific sections you can always revert to HBoot to flash it. The reason you cannot flash the splash image is the same reason, it's locked and will not allow you to do it, it's one of the few things they locked down.
neidlinger said:
The reason alot of us recommend it is pretty simple. HTC Locks the bootloader so we cannot flash specific images to our phone. OR Specific sections of a ROM build. If you can flash the Engineering screen it will allow you to flash stuff from the HBoot. SO if you find your self in pickle and the phone will not mount specific sections you can always revert to HBoot to flash it. The reason you cannot flash the splash image is the same reason, it's locked and will not allow you to do it, it's one of the few things they locked down.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This.
Theres an epidemic of people getting softbricks lately, that we can't get fixed because of not having the eng bootloader installed.
neidlinger said:
The reason alot of us recommend it is pretty simple. HTC Locks the bootloader so we cannot flash specific images to our phone. OR Specific sections of a ROM build. If you can flash the Engineering screen it will allow you to flash stuff from the HBoot. SO if you find your self in pickle and the phone will not mount specific sections you can always revert to HBoot to flash it. The reason you cannot flash the splash image is the same reason, it's locked and will not allow you to do it, it's one of the few things they locked down.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
option94 said:
This.
Theres an epidemic of people getting softbricks lately, that we can't get fixed because of not having the eng bootloader installed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
looks like i made the right choice to flash this then. thanks for the info guys. gonna try changing my splash screen now make this thing even more mine. lol
also if i did soft brick it i would use ADB while the phones at the hboot screen correct? i had it on the hboot screen while it was plugged in to my computer and noticed a install driver thing pop on, but couldnt install because i didnt have the driver. said somethikng like android 1?
Im thinking of S-OFF-ing my device (Unlocking bootloader). I want to ask did anybody did it on our tattoo, what are the ups and downs, what are the chances of hard bricking my device, will i still be able to flash roms via CWM, and the most important, is it worth it ???
kemoba said:
Im thinking of S-OFF-ing my device (Unlocking bootloader). I want to ask did anybody did it on our tattoo, what are the ups and downs, what are the chances of hard bricking my device, will i still be able to flash roms via CWM, and the most important, is it worth it ???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1.) No, I hadn't.
2.) You can write data directly into system without booting into recovery and there's no downs, only better
3.) Your Click may go to eternity sleep if something goes wrong. but believe me, I've S-OFFed my Desire, not my previous Click as it's already factoried s-off. Nothing bad happens:beer:
4.) S-offing will NOT touch your recovery.
5.) The risks are very low, but if you mess up service again so it's worth, I recommend. Download from HTCDev site. Revolutionary's unfortunately not into this.
Sent from my HTC Desire using xda app-developers app
kemoba said:
Im thinking of S-OFF-ing my device (Unlocking bootloader). I want to ask did anybody did it on our tattoo, what are the ups and downs, what are the chances of hard bricking my device, will i still be able to flash roms via CWM, and the most important, is it worth it ???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're thinking about using htcdev boot unlocker, it won't S-Off your phone. It would just let you flash custom recovery and such which we can do already. Therefore in my view, it's not necessary to do it.
If you actually get an S-Off done(paid solution), it still won't be very useful as most of the things that we usually want like downgrading/upgrading we can do with the help of gold card and some other tricks posted in this forum.
I got S-off done as I wanted to be able to change mid but I later found out that I couldn't do it with stock hboot as it provides a curtailed list of fastboot oem commands in comparison to Eng-hboot. I thought S-Off would help me change the model id(mid). If there was a way a to directly alter mid in NVRAM then it would be helpful but for now the money spent on S-Off is a waste.
Wish there was an ENG hboot available for our Tattoo.
Hope this info will be useful.