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Need some help from the geniuses. And though it'll be clear I am not one of these geniuses, I wanted to mention this is my 5th Android phone and I've perma-rooted all of the others and flashed ROMs hundreds of times. I've also searched for a resolution to this with no luck. Lastly, I know some will argue this fits in General or Q&A, but this problem has been reported by a number of folks across phone lines without resolution and I think it is going to require real dev collaboration to solve and possibly help prevent this in the future, so I'm posting it in Dev.
Now, on to the problem....
Bought a MT4G yesterday and came home to root. Followed some of the great guides here to use Visionary R14 to get temproot and then "permaroot". I was getting S-OFF, but my root didn't seem to be lasting beyond reboot, maybe this was because I was showing 2.2 and not the 2.2.1 OTA update. So, I continued with the permaroot guide here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=834225 and all seemed to be going well. My root was surviving reboot and I had S-OFF, but the LAST STEP is to reboot again and check S-flag in HBOOT and that's where I went wrong. I'd left the PD15IMG file on the SD root and when it rebooted I guess I was holding the volume rocker up unintentionally, so it flashed this file without me being able to stop it. I rebooted and still showed S-OFF and 2.2.1, but now when I entered terminal emulator and type "su" I get an error about the user being unknown (doing a "ls su" in /system/bin shows su to be there, btw). Obviously the file screwed up root, and reverted my recovery from Clockworkmod to stock. From there I thought I'd reflash the OTA update.zip but I get an "invalid operation" error.
So I probably should have asked for help then, but I've been trying to follow downgrade guides and redo the root procedures but no joy, usually because they require root to initiate the downgrade (to flash a recovery and do a nandroid restore or to execute some steps of the script). I can get a # prompt when I run the rage scripts, but it appears to be losing root when I reboot. One attempt turned S-ON back on as well. My searching turned up a number of other users who have obviously had this problem with various android phones, and the only one to report successfully fixing flashed a non-root update.zip and did some sort of fixes to busybox.
In summary, I can't return the phone to T-mo because I bought it from an associate at work, and I appear to be stuck between root and non-root without any options that are clear to me to resolve the situation. I am somewhat familiar with adb, fastboot flashing, etc., so if someone can just help me fix su/busybox or somehow flash this back to stock so I can start over or something I would be HUGELY appreciative.
vettejock99 said:
Need some help from the geniuses. And though it'll be clear I am not one of these geniuses, I wanted to mention this is my 5th Android phone and I've perma-rooted all of the others and flashed ROMs hundreds of times. I've also searched for a resolution to this with no luck. Lastly, I know some will argue this fits in General or Q&A, but this problem has been reported by a number of folks across phone lines without resolution and I think it is going to require real dev collaboration to solve and possibly help prevent this in the future, so I'm posting it in Dev.
Now, on to the problem....
Bought a MT4G yesterday and came home to root. Followed some of the great guides here to use Visionary R14 to get temproot and then "permaroot". I was getting S-OFF, but my root didn't seem to be lasting beyond reboot, maybe this was because I was showing 2.2 and not the 2.2.1 OTA update. So, I continued with the permaroot guide here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=834225 and all seemed to be going well. My root was surviving reboot and I had S-OFF, but the LAST STEP is to reboot again and check S-flag in HBOOT and that's where I went wrong. I'd left the PD15IMG file on the SD root and when it rebooted I guess I was holding the volume rocker up unintentionally, so it flashed this file without me being able to stop it. I rebooted and still showed S-OFF and 2.2.1, but now when I entered terminal emulator and type "su" I get an error about the user being unknown (doing a "ls su" in /system/bin shows su to be there, btw). Obviously the file screwed up root, and reverted my recovery from Clockworkmod to stock. From there I thought I'd reflash the OTA update.zip but I get an "invalid operation" error.
So I probably should have asked for help then, but I've been trying to follow downgrade guides and redo the root procedures but no joy, usually because they require root to initiate the downgrade (to flash a recovery and do a nandroid restore or to execute some steps of the script). I can get a # prompt when I run the rage scripts, but it appears to be losing root when I reboot. One attempt turned S-ON back on as well. My searching turned up a number of other users who have obviously had this problem with various android phones, and the only one to report successfully fixing flashed a non-root update.zip and did some sort of fixes to busybox.
In summary, I can't return the phone to T-mo because I bought it from an associate at work, and I appear to be stuck between root and non-root without any options that are clear to me to resolve the situation. I am somewhat familiar with adb, fastboot flashing, etc., so if someone can just help me fix su/busybox or somehow flash this back to stock so I can start over or something I would be HUGELY appreciative.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try the alternative method in my guide with rage instead of visionary and see if that helps. One thing is does is reinstall su and busybox. Also, make sure that you have deleted the PD15IMG.zip from your sdcard so that this doesn't happen again.
Hey! i had the same problem and all i had to do was re-flash the ROM and ive been fine ever since!
just either use the stock rom in the downgrading post, or flash one of the new ones i.e. icedglacier or Gorillas's. iceglaciers seems to be pretty functional right now gorillas is awesome just has a few kinks he's working on
vettejock99 said:
In summary, I can't return the phone to T-mo because I bought it from an associate at work, and I appear to be stuck between root and non-root without any options that are clear to me to resolve the situation. I am somewhat familiar with adb, fastboot flashing, etc., so if someone can just help me fix su/busybox or somehow flash this back to stock so I can start over or something I would be HUGELY appreciative.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try this (you should be s-off) and assuming you have busybox already installed.
run rage to get su in your terminal then run the following command in the terminal
busybox mount -o remount,rw /system
busybox chown 0 /system/bin/su
busybox chmod 4755 /system/su
install the superuser.apk if it's not already installed
make sure everything is working by opening a adb shell and typing "su" to verify.
use your phone normally and try rebooting after a few hours. hopefully the fs cache flushed and root is fixed permanently.
mrpanic7 said:
Hey! i had the same problem and all i had to do was re-flash the ROM and ive been fine ever since!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, first things first - guess I have to try to see if I can even get S-OFF again or if I've completely screwed myself.
Going to try the alt root method, but I think I have been and it wasn't working. So unless me being tired at 1am was the cause, I may need some more help. Thanks.
Okay, followed the s-off guide, and ran the busybox commands posted above, and I am back to S-OFF and now I get "permission denied" instead of "unknown user root". I think this is progress, but still can't flash because I don't have root. I noticed opening Superuser keeps FC'ing...
Please post questions in Q&A section.
just follow this guide here, which you are already familiar with. it's for temp root using rage. but since your phone has the eng hboot with s-off it should become permanent once the FS flushes out to disk (flash)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=797042
follow the guide for root and mainly to get the su files installed just in case your's didn't instal properly prior. when you are done just type "sync" multiple times in your terminal
wait a while an hour or so. then reboot to verify that it's permanent.
Same thing happened to me with the unknown root user. What finally fixed it for me, was redoing the adb commands that put those files on your device so you could use rage. Once it re put the files on my phone, I did the rage commands again and it worked
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
Thanks, everyone! I am working again, and I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the help. I was THIS CLOSE to giving up on this phone.
Thanks again.
Mark
Nothing happens when I click "attempt perm root"...absolutely nothing. What the F is going on?
bballcat03 said:
Nothing happens when I click "attempt perm root"...absolutely nothing. What the F is going on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to follow steps to unlock the bootloader (achieving S-off) before perm root will stick. Read the thread on achieving S-off. Don't do anything you don't fully understand, so read a lot. Afaik visionary does not perm root with one click without first having an unlocked bootloader.
EDIT: Read the resource bible. It's a sticky in the dev forum.
Swyped on my rooted MyTouch4G
I have s-off with 0.85.2007...everything works like a charm until I get to the permroot part...nothing happens when I hit it.
bballcat03 said:
I have s-off with 0.85.2007...everything works like a charm until I get to the permroot part...nothing happens when I hit it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have s-off and you have the eng 2007 bootloader, you're rooted. Make sure you have the superuser app installed to your phone. If not, you can get it from the market. You need it to gain root privileges in apps. If you have superuser you can test root by opening terminal emulator. Type su and hit enter. If you get a root request confirm it. The $ symbol should change to #.
You shouldn't need visionary anymore. Once you confirm root, uninstall it.
Swyped on my rooted MyTouch4G
But without doing "permroot" in visionary, it's not permanent, correct? Cause I want it permanent, not temp.
Yes I have superuser installed.
bballcat03 said:
But without doing "permroot" in visionary, it's not permanent, correct? Cause I want it permanent, not temp.
Yes I have superuser installed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try what I said with terminal. If you type su and hit enter, you should see a #. If you do, congrats. Reboot and test terminal su command to see if your root sticks. Visionary won't tell you if you're rooted.
Swyped on my rooted MyTouch4G
Ok I redid everything again (without doing "attempt permroot") and did what you said and the $ changed to #...however, when I first did the temp root, and then went into terminal to do the:
- su
- "cd /data/local" etc....it changed from a $ to a # as well then...before I got to the end and rebooted.
So I am permrooted then and can change roms? Why didn't I have to do "attempt permroot" in visionary?
The unlocked.com
Precise...simple..quick...easy...works...
Hope it helps!
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
h0wlings0nnets said:
The unlocked.com
Precise...simple..quick...easy...works...
Hope it helps!
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uh, that's not a website!
Like I said, you were already rooted. When you attempt perm root with Visionary, I don't think it tells you anything. Just make sure your root sticks by rebooting and then typing su in terminal. If you get the #, you can uninstall Visionary.
As for flashing ROMs: You need to flash a new recovery in order to make Nandroid backups and flash ROMs. Clockwork ROM Manager from the market will allow you to flash Clockwork Recovery on your phone. I don't know how much experience you have with flashing ROMs in general, but if you're a novice in any way I wouldn't start changing your system just yet. Read the resource bible, lurk the developer threads, and get a firm grasp on what you are doing. Get familiar with ADB and Fastboot. Be totally confident in your knowledge. You can still brick your phone or at the very least give yourself an unneeded heart attack and hours of troubleshooting sh!t.
Resource Bible
Good luck and congrats on root!
Yeah I am looking at the "how to flash a rom for noobs" thread out of the resource bible...it says "In the hboot menu select recovery and then the phone will restart. You will get a phone with yellow triangle error."
I select recovery and another screen came up regarding the clockwork with a bunch of options, it didn't restart. And when I selected the option that said "reboot" it did, but I didn't get a yellow triangle error
Any ideas there?
Sounds to me you already have Clockwork Recovery installed. You must have done that without knowing it. Beats me. I you go into HBOOT and select Recovery the phone will shut off and boot into recovery mode. If you got Clockwork Recovery version 2.x.x.x (with green typeface), that just means you have Clockwork recovery installed and can flash Froyo based ROMs (like Iced Glacier), make Nandroid backups, and a bunch of other stuff you probably shouldn't mess with.
Just know that you CANNOT flash Gingerbread based ROMs (like CyanogenMod 7) with CW v. 2.x.x.x
You need CW v. 3.x.x.x to use gingy ROMs.
Keep reading.
I PM'd ya, but no when I hboot and hit recovery, it doesn't reboot, it goes to "clockwork mod recovery v2.5.1.2
XfooYen said:
You have to follow steps to unlock the bootloader (achieving S-off) before perm root will stick. Read the thread on achieving S-off. Don't do anything you don't fully understand, so read a lot. Afaik visionary does not perm root with one click without first having an unlocked bootloader.
EDIT: Read the resource bible. It's a sticky in the dev forum.
Swyped on my rooted MyTouch4G
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having the same issue as the OP. I'm quoting because I had a permroot stick with s-on on my previous MT4G. (I just had it replaced, damn power button)
Explain please? Why would it work on one but not the other?
I would have posted this in the development forum in the thread that had this technique, but I don't have enough posts yet or something?
Anyway, I have S=off, and visionary temp root works fine. But permroot in visionary r14 doesn't work, it just flashes like the button is pushed then does nothing, like I didn't even hit it. So I need to run the temp root everytime my phone starts up.
I didn't setup the engineer bootloader yet, should I do that?
Does r11 work better?
What is the next step to get permroot to work?
I am new to the rooting scene and I am very eager to root my HTC Glacier|MyTouch 4G.
I am however hesitant because I cannot risk bricking my phone.
Advice on how to recover from brick and an easy to follow guide to perm-root.
Thanks
geronimo711 said:
I am new to the rooting scene and I am very eager to root my HTC Glacier|MyTouch 4G.
I am however hesitant because I cannot risk bricking my phone.
Advice on how to recover from brick and an easy to follow guide to perm-root.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is the end result you are trying to get to?
If you are wanting S=off so you can flash custom ROMs.
http://theunlockr.com/2010/12/10/how-to-temporarily-root-the-t-mobile-mytouch-4g-htc-glacier/; do that and it will lead you to perma root the easy way.
if you are wanting s=off so you can have complete control over your phone, which will enable the possibility of a brick. including SuperCID, ./gfree and some other goodies...... But this will give you the option to severally screw up your phone including up to a 500.00 paper weight.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=858996
If you haven't screwed up the HBoot and the bootloader you can use this to get back to a factory spec.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=863899&highlight=level
But if this is your first android, and your first time rooting i would HIGHLY suggest doing alot of reading before you jump in head first. There are alot of people who have tried to do and get stuck. This phone is confusing once rooted with 2.2 ROMs and 2.3 ROMs and different recovery images you need to read and make sure you understand everything before jumping in feet first.
Temp root with visionary is the easiest and safest way, but gfree is pretty simple as well. The hardest bit is getting the drivers and ADB to work, and thats not overly difficult. (remember to use the command "ADB devices" to know if the drives are working) It just matters what you plan on doing, stock root or custom ROM.
There is really only two points that risk a hard brick, flashing the radio or hboot.
The gfree method does not require either, but you can flash the engineering hboot as optional.
The biggest thing with recoveries and ROMs is know that gingerbread based ROMs (like CM7) use ext4 file system and froyo ROMs use ext3. So it is important to use the right version of Clockwork recovery. Use v2.5.1.2 for froyo ROMs and v3.0 for gingerbread ROMs. Soon clockwork mod will support both on the same version.
Just read the instructions well and have all files downloaded and ready to go.
If you want to use gfree and a custom ROM, there is no need to get perm root on the stock ROM first. After the steps that get s=off, just run visionary as temp root with system r/w access and install ROM manager from the market, then use ROM manager to flash a new recovery. Reboot into recovery backup your stock ROM then flash a new ROM.
If you never touch the hboot or radio firmware, then at worse you can bootloop or soft brick the device. That can be fixed with varying amounts of work, depending on the exact issue.
Read and learn how the different parts work, learn how to use ADB and you will be better prepared.
newbie here
This is my first post. I would really appreciate anybody helping me out here. I can't seem to get any straight answers, or answers I can understand, anyway, so here goes.
I have an HTC Mytouch 4g. I did a temporary root (using the method at theunlockr.com) and uninstalled the monopoly app. I was going to uninstall a bunch of other stuff but I got nervous and did a factory data reset (in the SD & phone storage area). All of my marketplace apps reinstalled, which I thought wasn't supposed to happen, but anyway.... I did the volume down/power on and see now that my phone is GLACIER PVT SHIP S-ON. So my question is how to interpret the state that my phone is now in. Is it factory? Is it rooted? Will the T-Mobile OTA updates work? Why is the monopoly app still gone? Is my warranty voided?
ibnird said:
This is my first post. I would really appreciate anybody helping me out here. I can't seem to get any straight answers, or answers I can understand, anyway, so here goes.
I have an HTC Mytouch 4g. I did a temporary root (using the method at theunlockr.com) and uninstalled the monopoly app. I was going to uninstall a bunch of other stuff but I got nervous and did a factory data reset (in the SD & phone storage area). All of my marketplace apps reinstalled, which I thought wasn't supposed to happen, but anyway.... I did the volume down/power on and see now that my phone is GLACIER PVT SHIP S-ON. So my question is how to interpret the state that my phone is now in. Is it factory? Is it rooted? Will the T-Mobile OTA updates work? Why is the monopoly app still gone? Is my warranty voided?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Temp root is just that, temporary. It creates a copy of the essential files in the system partition that it runs from rather than the actual system partition. If you allow it r/w access, (an option you can choose when using visionary) it can uninstall apps that normally can not be. (and more, but causing big changes would require more work on your part)
Because it is temporary, there is no need to get nervous. Unless you are doing some major changes, ones that need a root explorer app or terminal emulator, then you can't really hurt the phone. Download terminal emulator from market and run it, then type in the super user command "su" (no quotes) then hit enter, if the cursor changes to a # symbol then you have root. (you may get a popup asking for root permission, choose to allow) If it works after a fresh reboot, you either ran perm root in visionary, or you have the option checked to temp root every reboot.
S-ON means that the bootloader security is still in place. You need it off to install custom software. While you can root the stock software with S-ON you can not install any software that has potential to brick your phone, so no need to worry at all. If you are really that worried, keep a copy of the stock software on your SD card. Make sure it is named PD15IMG and at any time you get nervous, you can boot into hboot (the bootloader) and it will run automatically. It will wipe your phone and return it to complete stock. The irony is, that flashing this stock image file does things that can brick a phone if it goes wrong. It flashes more than just the OS, it also flashes hboot and recovery as well, and if the process is messed up in anyway like loosing power at the wrong time, it can brick the phone.
Really as long as you make sure you have the phone charged and you follow instructions you should be fine. The only times you can brick a phone to the point it can not be brought back is when flashing hboot and the radio firmware. Both of which you would rarely flash. Hboot only needs flashed to the engineering version once (OEM testing/DEV version) and only if you choose to, as it is not required. The radio will only need flashed if an update for it comes out, and that isn't often, and it is rarely mandatory.
The chance of truly bricking your phone is not very high, unless you just can't follow the directions. Now you can put it into a bootloop or soft brick it. (bootup stuck on mytouch screen) But if you can boot the phone into hboot (vol down + power on) then you can fix it. Even if you can not boot into recovery (an option in the hboot menu) you can even fix that with a good hboot.
theres a video on youtube by mackster its awesome and it gives you all the links very easy to use.
it wont let me post the link but just search root mytouch 4g on youtube and it should be the first or second one.
Thanks Marine and Tommy.
So with temporary root, as soon as I turned off and then back on the phone, it was back to its unrooted, original state, minus the T-Mobile application? Will I now get T-Mobile's Over the Air (OTA, right?) updates and not have a problem if I need warranty work?
ibnird said:
Thanks Marine and Tommy.
So with temporary root, as soon as I turned off and then back on the phone, it was back to its unrooted, original state, minus the T-Mobile application? Will I now get T-Mobile's Over the Air (OTA, right?) updates and not have a problem if I need warranty work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uninstalling an app will not hurt anything. OTA updates will still work fine. You can temp root and then perm root the stock ROM and revert easily. Heck, even perm rooting stock doesn't break OTA I believe.
Voiding the warranty is one of those grey areas. As long as you can revert to stock, then they will never know. Temp root does not void warranty at all, because you do not alter the system files. (unless you want to, and enable the ability to read/write system) Just uninstall terminal emulator and super user apps and there is no evidence.
The only time you might get caught, is if say the screen stops working, and you can not see to revert back. Though even then, just putting the stock OTA image on the sd card then booting up the phone in hboot will restore without needing to actually see anything. It does ask for confirmation to restore, just wait several minutes then hit the power button and it would do it on its own.
The set of circumstances needed to prevent you from restoring to stock, are rare. Basically a borked hboot or radio firmware, and you never need to touch those to get full root and custom ROMs. If you never touch them, the chance of issue is almost zero.
I just got my mt4g and I am looking to root my phone for the following reasons:
apps2sd
remove bloatware (I want the app to be disabled and I don't want the icon in my app drawer)
use adfree
I don't want any custom roms and I'd like to keep sense ui.
Can anyone tell me if this is at all possible? I've read around and I know it's possible but I don't know about rom flashing and I'm confused as to whether or not I need to flash a custom rom? What's the point of a custom rom anyways?
goldfish524 said:
I just got my mt4g and I am looking to root my phone for the following reasons:
apps2sd
remove bloatware (I want the app to be disabled and I don't want the icon in my app drawer)
use adfree
I don't want any custom roms and I'd like to keep sense ui.
Can anyone tell me if this is at all possible? I've read around and I know it's possible but I don't know about rom flashing and I'm confused as to whether or not I need to flash a custom rom? What's the point of a custom rom anyways?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You dont need apps2sd, as the mytouch 4g has Froyo installed, and you can move some apps to the SD card. Just go into settings-Applications-chose the applicaiton you want on your SD card, and look for "move to SD". If it's grayed out, then you cant move it.
Also download appfreezer from the market, and just "freeze" the bloatware. That's what I do, and it gets rid of those annoying looking apps they installed.
Question about clockworkmod
OK i just rooted my phone, flashed the rom, and installed all the goods... it works perfectly and looks great.
Ty for all the guides/ instructions.
My only question is about the clockworkmod. When I turn off my phone and plug it in to charge the recovery screen always appears when off and connected. Is this suppose to happen? Or is there a solution to this?
If there is a solution can some one post a link or provide instructions so it doesn't constantly boot to clockworkmod recovery.
Thanks.
Hello there fellow Glacier owners.
Let me start off by saying I have rooted 2 Glaciers very recently, and I am very familiar with the process. One of them was swapped at the store because I had one of the Taiwanese screens, and it was driving me nuts. I have been trying to root the new one.
I've gone through the gfree, adb, and Visionary+ methods already, and now an issue has cropped up.
Now, when I run Visionary, pop open the terminal, and type 'su' I get an 'unknown user root' error.
When I try to use the adb/gfree method and run 'rage', I now get a 'rage: applet not found' error.
During my previous attempt, I did not get this error. I have tried a reset to factory through stock hboot, I have tried loading the 2.2.1 PD15IMG.zip, through stock hboot (didn't help, wasn't expecting it to). I've even tried switching out and formatting mSD cards on the off chance it might help.
If anyone has any advice or help they can offer me, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks
Any way you can post a video of your step by step? I've always used grankin's guide and I've never had an issue, not once, on 6 HTC Glaciers.
Thus far, I've only seen a few reasons why people can't root their phone:
- They aren't on 2.2.1
- They didn't put files in the correct location/follow directions to the T
I don't think I've ever seen a legit, "your device is defective" post, but it's been suggested.
I use visionaryplus.r14.apk each time and my employee has rooted a handful of HTC Glaciers using the same.
I think a video would really help expose any possible oversights. It's either your steps or the device is just "bad" and I'm thinking video footage would help reveal which it is.
Here is a link to my video using the Visionary+ method. I can upload a video for the adb if you want as well.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qb3HIvXiF74
Replace DOT with .
I should also note that I was able to run the 'su' command at one point successfully, but this is no longer the case.
Awesome, great vid and thanks for that. Can you get a screen shot (or pic) of your About Phone > Software Information?
Thanks! Here is the requested pic...
I should note that this phone came with 2.2.1, where the other two I have rooted did not.
Awesome, thanks for the quick pic. I've had six Glaciers, two of which came with 2.2.1 pre-installed, the rest came with 2.2 and then 2.2.1 came down once I checked-in. So that alone (2.2.1 pre-installed) shouldn't be an issue.
The difficult part is, there have been multiple "processes" attempted on this device, so I can't attest to the state of the device/ROM. Is this attempt with Visionary coming from a clean install/factory reset? I'd sort of like to "take it back to basics" and have a factory reset device THEN try ONLY the Visionary method.
I saw someone mention that a dev though there could be a hardware issue causing this (I can't remember which thread or which dev mentioned it), but it was only speculative.
It seems pretty clear you know what you're doing and you're quick AND we're not even to the .sh portion (where a lot of people end up with /root/root directories).
Keep me posted...
If you could, please supply me with some detailed factory reset instructions.
I want to make sure we are troubleshooting this appropriately, and I may not be wiping it correctly.
Please let me know.
Thanks.
It should just be Menu > Settings > SD & phone storage > Factory data reset...
Ok, it's running through now.
What would my next step be?
EDIT: Wipe finished. I installed Visionary, ran Temproot, still get the 'su: unknown user root' error.
May be heading to my local T-Mobile to replace the device.
K, so once it's finished you'll get to the TMO setup wizard where you enter your Google account info, etc. Once you get through that and get to the home screen, stop and don't do anything else. That's our home base.
Let me know once you get to the home screen for the first time after factory reset and we'll go from there...
I appreciate your patience and willingness to go through everything in baby steps.
Youch, k, there we go. That's exactly what the next step would've been and it sounds like you're truly not missing anything.
Does anyone else out there have anything to offer? I think you're probably best at cutting your losses and just getting another device. It really should be a very simple process, as you've seen before.
Keep us posted on the new device!
Woops, went a little too far then. I'll re-wipe.
What's the next step?
EDIT: Didn't do this, nevermind.
Ok, I got the new phone. Attempted to root through Visionary, everything looked good, but then I did not have root. Here is what I did...
From factory, out of the box (confirmed 2.2.1), ran Visionary - Temproot.
In terminal, 'su' works properly.
Ran root.sh
Appeared to work, rebooted the phone manually, S was still on.
Ran Visionary Temproot.
Ran Visionary Permroot.
S is still on.
Are there other steps I should take? Or did I perhaps do something wrong.
Please let me know.
Ok, unless there's some silly oversight, I think we might have a different issue here. Anything 'special' about these newer HTC Glaciers? All the specs you posted look identical the devices I've had from November, December, etc.
I hope there's no issue with me posting a link to Visionary.
Visionary R14:
http://deancasey.net/android/apps/visionaryplus.r14.apk
Just for giggles, can you try that APK? I know you said you have the same version, but there's obviously some difference between what you have (hardware, software, etc.) Other than that, it's either process or device. You seem pretty knowledgeable and it's not some silly mistake like not finding the .sh script.
Has anyone else tried to root using Visionary R14 on a newly-acquired MT4G? I'm just wondering if ANYTHING is different about the newer devices.
Still not working.
Should I try the gfree method? I will also note, that the last 2 I did gave me a real hard time rooting them. I bounced around a bunch of threads/methods before I got it to work, and I really don't recall what I had to do.
Yeah, it's just something that's really weird to me. I've been a "tech," professionally, for nearly 15 years. I worked as a Project Manager for a software company for 7 years, so I was solely responsible for testing our new releases. I also did all the 'lite' work like the database patches, installer scripts, etc.
Working closely with a smart developer, you start to get really good at testing and removing your own opinions from the loop. So there's pretty much always a finite reason why something isn't working as expected.
So that side of me wants to know what the variable is. Six of these devices and I've rooted them all without issue, using that .apk and Grankin's .sh script. So it's like, ok, I know this works. I've seen it not work for people who weren't on 2.2.1, who didn't follow the directions, etc. It looks like we can rule out the user with you so now it's a matter of what is unique about your device(s)?
Try the gfree method and report back, but I'd definitely like to see if anyone smarter than you and I has any input on what could be different about the newer devices you have.
Ok, I got the new phone. Attempted to root through Visionary, everything looked good, but then I did not have root. Here is what I did...
From factory, out of the box (confirmed 2.2.1), ran Visionary - Temproot.
In terminal, 'su' works properly.
Ran root.sh
Appeared to work, rebooted the phone manually, S was still on.
Ran Visionary Temproot.
Ran Visionary Permroot.
S is still on.
Are there other steps I should take? Or did I perhaps do something wrong.
Please let me know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was under the impression that you had to turn S off before you can perm-root this device. The way I did it is here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=858996
I used only Gfree and Visionary (both can be obtained in the link). No separate rage exploit. If I follow you correctly, I don't see where you used gfree after temp-rooting, which is what actually turns S on or off from my understanding. Visionary is what puts the binaries in place and executes the exploit to do so. I only used these two tools and I have S off with perm-root verified. Try it this way:
1. Fresh MT4G, stock bootloader, recovery, etc.
2. Ensure USB debugging is on
3. Install a terminal emulator
4. Install Visionary
5. Temp-root with Visionary
6. Push gfree to your phone as described in the link above using adb
7. Open your terminal and run gfree as described in the link above
8. Reboot
9. Run Visionary again, but this time ensure you check the box to have it mount system R/W after temp-root
10. Temp-root through Visionary
11. With Visionary still open, attempt to perm-root the device; it should reboot
These are the steps that I remember following and it worked perfectly. The key was using gfree to turn S off in order to get it to stick, then going back to Visionary and rooting. I think it is possible to get perm-root with the engineering bootloader and not really turning S off, but I am not %100 sure about the new stock bootloaders and having to turn S off or not. But, this method worked on more than one MT4G on which I tried it. Hope it helps.
The method outlined in Grankin's post gets you S-Off.
totalentropy is getting stuck before we can even get to the next steps. He's just trying to get Temp Root and then get su. You won't have S-Off at this point in the process and you don't need to have it off at this point. You won't get S-Off until you run the root.sh script...
*Crappy iPod Touch camera
total, have you tried the 'Alternative Root Process' outlined in Grankin's post? He wants you to remove the Visionary and Super User apps before proceeding with that method.
kmdub, that didn't work for me.
schlongwoodian, I did try that, and it seemed to be working. After the last rage, it soft reboots to the MyTouch logo, 5 seconds later flashes back to the MyTouch logo, then boots normally. I checked S after that, and it is still on. This is the same behavior that my other two exhibited when I was trying to root them.
Here is some additional info that may be helpful.
For all 3 Glaciers, I could not push su or Superuser.apk to the phone normally. I could only push them right when the phone booted with the USB plugged in, right after the USB debugging mode message appears. Any other time and I get access denied.
When I run gfree, with the -f switch, I get an error with input file, sometime a different error that I cannot remember off the top of my head. On one Glacier, I could run gfree with the -s off switch, which did work. I tried that on this current one, and it did not help.
For all 3 Glaciers, I could not push su or Superuser.apk to the phone normally.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Push via? ADB? Why is Superuser.apk being pushed to the phone? That's part of another root process I'm guessing? That's not part of Grankin's root process. Now, the Superuser.apk does get installed (Visionary), but never does Superuser.apk have to be manually copied over.
Those are good points that you mentioned. Can you clarify if you pushed Superuser.apk to your phone earlier? The process should be:
- Factory reset or start with clean device
- Copy visionaryplus.r14.apk to your microSD card (I put mine in a folder named _appz)
- Copy Grankin's 'root' folder to the root of your microSD card
- Run Visionary to gain temp root
- Run Terminal and type su
It's interesting that you're getting the 'unknown user' error right when you type 'su' and you also have manually copied over a Superuser.apk. Can you start the process over again - factory reset - and do nothing once you boot the phone for the first time? Wait and don't copy a thing over, nada. Just wait and post back here. And make sure there truly is nothing on your microSD card - nothing that you've put there that is, not until we can start this over again.
I hope we're onto something...
Okay, here is the deal. I was trying to change around some stuff on my phone, the IMEI number to match the one on my prepaid tracphone. So far, before I changed the IMEI, i had it rooted and everything was slamming. But it would disconnect me after about a half hour. I am changing the IMEI to see if it fixes this, but after all this I had to revert back to a total stock flash of 2.2.1 HTC rom, it updated everything, one of those PBxx.img ones you do during the bootloader.
So now I've rooted it with visionary, and it hardly works, won't permaroot, but I get regular root. So I did another method on a wiki and have permaroot now. Updated SU, clockwork mod, ETC and everything works (well it installs and prompts me to give super user access then doesnt complain.)
HERE IS THE PROBLEM: I CANT CHANGE RECOVERY OR BOOTLOADER TO S-OFF
I have used gfree (multiple versions) to turn s off, and turn off all locks and to change the bootloader the nb0 one. BUT NOTHING gives.
>Clockworkmod from the rooted main screen, when i open the app, it won't install the clockwork mod recovery.
>When booting to recovery, the phone goes to stock recovery with the red triangle and phone. Upon where you have to push VOL UP + PWR button to see any options, and they are just the stock ones, (reboot, apply update:sdcard, etc)
I was wondering if someone had a signed image that they could link to me or send or whatever that has the s-off in a format that I can use with the BOOTLOADER; i.e.: Just put it on SD-CARD, hold "VOL UP+PWR" then it will do the update. U know, like radios are flashed.
If you can help me please, help me. I was so excited with this phone and moving along and now this.... ARG! lol. Thanks guys any and all input is appreciated no matter how irrelevant!
peace
GLACIER PVT SHIP S-ON
HBOOT-0.86.0000
MICROP-0429
RADIO-26.03.02.26_M
eMMC-boot
Sep 27 2010,11:12:59
You don't have perm-root.
Gfree can't work without root. Since you don't have perm-root without Gfree, you need temp-root.
While not S-OFF, you can't have perm-root. Period. End of story. Temp-root and execute Gfree.
Execute the rooting guide in Wiki properly, and you'll have S-OFF.
Of course, having no perm-root makes it impossible to flash recovery, or flash anything at all.
help.. tried root explorer, astro, es file..and have had no luck flashing to better roms...help
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA Premium App
If you are using Visionary R14, try R11. And f*ck wiki.
Jack_R1 said:
You don't have perm-root.
Gfree can't work without perm-root.
While not S-OFF, you can't have perm-root. Period. End of story.
Execute the rooting guide in Wiki properly, and you'll have S-OFF.
Of course, having no perm-root makes it impossible to flash recovery, or flash anything at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
G-free turns s-off. If he has a bad eMMc chip, G-free is the only method he can use. And some phones have issues with the newer version of visionary.
lowandbehold said:
G-free turns s-off. If he has a bad eMMc chip, G-free is the only method he can use. And some phones have issues with the newer version of visionary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess I wasn't clear enough in my response above, and wrote "perm-root" where just "root" was in order. Edited.
In any case, when was the last time you've read the Wiki? I suggest you look at it again.
I don't know if I am explaining correctly.
I applied the root method using visionary r14 because thats the latest from the site, it temp roots, but does not perma root.
I did a su, and got root, but I have to SU before i get root, it asks for SU permissions and I allow and I have root. (all this is done in a shell). So I know I have root, i can open up the system to read write and even delete some stock .apk and other files that aren't supposed to be deleted. So its all good. I can chmod 777, i know whats up there.
I did all this madness, SU updates to the most current binary, clockwordmod both an older and the newest version open, ask for and allow SU permission, and all that appears to work fine. EVEN with the friggen flash clockworkmod recovery, it says current recovery: clockworkmod x.x.x.x (meaning whatever the version is, tried a bunch).
BUT WHEN I BOOT TO RECOVERY OR BOOTLOADER, S-ON and friggen stock recovery for me. WHAT THE heck. its like its ignoring what I do to flash the bootloader.
Does anyone have a PBxx.IMG they can send, hopefully signed, that I can just use to update? or link to one? also, and update.zip for the stock recovery would work too.
HERE's the thing, its a T-mobile phone, and my TRACPHONE Prepaid sim works on it, but that *MIGHT* just be because TRACFONE = AT&T also T-Mobile=AT&T now also.
But I think the sim is unlocked, I'm waiting on other sim to come in the mail before I can verify for sure.
MAIN thing i need is a signed (or I'll even play with an unsigned) PBXX.img file for either the bootloader or recovery, or an update.zip one. At this point, if you have a lower version of 2.2.1 that has the whole entire shebang, (the radio, bootloader, os, recovery, etc) then I'll appreciate that too.
I just can't find it on here after days of searching and I am needing a push in the right direction. And google's overloaded with the SAME article just in different spam blog formats. Thx guyz
You CAN'T.
Everything you do when you're temp-rooted, DOESN'T GO TO THE eMMC! It stays in memory (eMMC cache), and the next time you reboot - everything is GONE. All your file deletions, chmods, etc - they're NOT REALLY EXECUTED. Reboot and see for yourself.
The only thing that will make it stay - is running gfree and gaining S-OFF.
The link, as everything else you're looking for, is in Wiki. Look in the Downgrade guide, there's a link for 2.2.1 RUU for MT4G. But it won't help you - you're just being stubborn and unwilling to read. YOU DIDN'T EXECUTE PERMAROOT PROPERLY, AND UNTIL YOU DO - YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO FLASH A DAMN THING.
The Wiki links to a Gfree method guide. Read it and execute it STEP BY STEP.
Okay, i did it
Here is what I did. I went in manually and copied the .nb0 to the file several times in a row.
Visionary does not work, the only way I can root this thing, without some type of temproot visionary app that messes up, is this way:
http://wiki.rootzwiki.com/index.php/HTC_myTouch_4G
Also, I am hoping I am correct, but this is how its laid out in the /dev block...
mmcblk0p18: HBOOT DATA (bits) And....
mmcblk0p21: RECOVERY DATA (bits) data or bits, whatever you want to call it. (its not a file)
Okay. So with that being said;
/dev/block/mmcblk0p18 = hboot 'file' and this is what i did.
Using 'dd' which is a unix command that just does low level convert and copy, will take the input file if=hboot_hacked_file.nb0 and then put it to the output device converting it and whatnot, the output file of=/dev/block/device
so it looks like this in example:
Code:
# dd if=/directory/filename.xxx of=/dev/block/output_device_or_file
Oh, and another thing that might just be paranoia... The wifi was on and it wasn't doing what it was supposed to do, I noticed it also being active unusually, I should have put wireshark on and checked it out, but didn't think about it at the time. Now that wifi off, it feels as if its fine now. It was almost like another user was in it. But thats probably just paranoia..... or the t-mob trying to mess me around!!!
This IS the gfree method, and you ARE running an app to gain temp-root there.
Copying the bootloader didn't help you at all, it was only a later step. It wouldn't stick if not for gfree.
Running gfree did.
Oh well, I guess that it's useless to explain. Glad it worked.
naw bro, its good that you explain what you mean, its not useless to explain anything. Here is what I'm saying... gfree -f is supposed to do the S-OFF right? well, it didn't. it also said failed or error or something at the end. Once I did the 'dd' command not just once, but several times and VERIFIED that it was working and different, while having # then I ran gfree again and it said SUCCESS at the bottom and THAT did it bro. SO that, in the end, turned my s-off and gfree unlocked my sim super unlock and cid unlock too.
I've cloned my IMEI because its legal, its my own phone and I'm not doing anything extra other than using it to make calls which I pay for at outrageous prepaid prices.
Does anyone know where that information is located by the way, just for information purposes... I've already done it using a hex editor and a part7.bin file... but I just am not quite sure on EXACTLY what I've done. like, the locations of what file or data that i've flashed. With CDMA, I usually enter QPST programming and all that and just just play till my heart's content... but now I'm trying to learn GSM and I want to know if there is a way to enter that kind of programming also. Or are us fellas forced to dump .bin files, hex edit, then reflash or reflex em...
Just lookin for some pushes in the right direction for programming in the GSM area.
Also if you have links to radios, all of them, previous and what not, I would appreciate it too
Flashing hboot, superuser or not, several times or not, didn't do a thing for unlocking.
For what reason gfree failed initially - I don't know, but when you ran it again and it didn't fail - that did it all. Otherwise you'd still be with S-ON, and the bootloader would still be the same.
You can't really argue against HW. That's how it works.
Radios are here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=796
Look for "Glacier Radios" sticky.
Like I said before as well. There are alot of issues with R14...find and use visionary R11. You are not the first person to have issues with visionary, and with the majority of them, the downgrade solved the problem.
Not true
I have try everything and nothing work. R11, r14 from visionary and it dosent work. Please devs try to get another method for the people that nothing work. I have hboot 0.86.0000
ahernandez646 said:
I have try everything and nothing work. R11, r14 from visionary and it dosent work. Please devs try to get another method for the people that nothing work. I have hboot 0.86.0000
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have Android version 2.3.4?
If so, Visionary won't work. You have to downgrade to 2.2.1 first. There is no way around this. But it's easy to do.
Skipjacks said:
Do you have Android version 2.3.4?
If so, Visionary won't work. You have to downgrade to 2.2.1 first. There is no way around this. But it's easy to do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, that's the froyo bootloader.
What happened when you ran visionary? Did you have usb debugging checked? Sometimes the temp root works on the first try, sometimes on the tenth. If it doesn't work, reboot and try again. If it still doesn't work after several attempts do a factory reset and try again. Sometimes a clean slate helps.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
i do have 2.2.1 but i had a mytouch 3g slide and i root it. but for some reason i can't get the mytouch 4g to do it. i will re-try everything again.
Thanks to all that have reply.