My wife and I recently traveled to Chicago and on the bus ride there, she turned off her eris to conserve battery. When we arrived in Chicago, she turned her phone back on and it gets stuck on the screen with the droids on skateboards. We let it sit for an hour plus with no results. I have searched for resolutions on this site, but all I could find were issues with already rooted phones.
When I go into the system recovery, I get a message E: can't open /cache/recovery/command. I wiped cache partition and wipe data/factory reset and rebooted and it still gets stuck.
I also downloaded the latest OTA update and renamed it to update.zip and pasted it on the sd card and tried to apply sdcard:update.zip but I get a message E:signature verification failed.
Is there anything I can do to resolve this problem and get the phone to boot? Is there a way that I can root the phone even though it wont boot up? We went to a verizon store and that was pretty much a waste of time.
Thanks for the help.!!
thats crazy man. you have no nand backup? i got in a bootloop once but i was rooted. i downloaded a random rom and booted to recovery then mounted usb and transfered rom to sdcard then flashed it and it booted right up. i would think if you got the click root program for eris and flashed it in recovery and then flashed a rom it would work but im not sure im no excerpt. hope you figure it out
kd,
The procedure you used (wipe data/factory reset using the stock recovery) should have worked with a non-rooted phone... assuming that all the hardware was still OK.
You should not have experienced a verification failure applying a valid OTA file as an update.zip, but it is not obvious to me that you should be trying to fix the problem that way in any event.
If the phone is under warranty, I think that the right thing to do is contact VZW or whomever sold you the phone about warranty return. Only if there is NOT a warranty available would I consider further "repair" experimentation on your part.
Let me ask a single question before I give any other advise: what bootloader version is on your phone? (You should see this in the HBOOT or FASTBOOT screen); probably it will be one of these three:
1.47.0000 S-ON
1.49.0000 S-ON
1.49.2000 S-OFF
I would advise you to avoid trying PB00IMG.zip or "RUU" rom reflashes at the moment. I can provide "cautious" instructions about how to proceed; but first- what bootloader do you have?
bftb0
I have contacted VZW and the phone is not under warranty so she is pretty much stuck with this phone.
Here is what I see on the bootloader screen:
PB00100 XC SHIP S-ON
HBOOT-1.46.0000 (PB0010000)
MICROP-0111
TOUCH PANEL-MELFAS_45_17
RADIO-2.42.01.04.27
Oct 5 2009, 19:21:56
Any instructions would be GREATLY GREATLY appreciated!!
Thanks
kdcroswell
kdcroswell said:
PB00100 XC SHIP S-ON
HBOOT-1.46.0000 (PB0010000)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is hopeful.
What I am going to suggest is that you proceed carefully by flashing as little as possible to the phone; the first step is to get the engineering bootloader onto the phone. (In principle, this could allow recovery of 100% of your wife's current configuration and data.) The top-level "outline" of the plan I have in mind looks like this:
- flash ONLY the 1.49.2000 S-OFF bootloader to the phone using the Root PB00IMG.zip file and the "toastcfh" battery pull trick using HBOOT.
- soft-boot a custom recovery to the phone without flashing it (this uses the PC utility "fastboot")
- Immediately make a Nandroid backup of the current contents of the phone.
- Perform a diagnostic "flash" that will report on the state of the MTD partitions.
- Make a decision on how to proceed from that information.
Before we begin, though, we should get a couple of preliminaries out of the way.
(A) You need to have a method to be 100% sure that the files you download to your SD card are in "perfect" condition. If you don't know what a "MD5" signature is, you should review what that means and then download a utility (either from Microsoft, or even better, an opensource GUI tool) to your PC that will allow you to compute "MD5" signatures of files that you download from the Internet.
Simple mistakes in transferring large files to an SD card can cause them to be truncated or corrupted, and this can have disastrous consequences if you flash a corrupted file to your phone. Making sure that you check the "MD5" checksum of the files you download - after you have transferred them to the SD card will prevent this kind of trouble. (This type of error might be what caused your trouble with the "update.zip" you used which failed a verification/signature step)
(B) The method I am going to suggest requires you to work at the command line of your PC, and also get some USB drivers installed. The easiest way to install the drivers is probably to run the "Official 2.1 RUU" Utility right up to the point where you would attempt to flash the phone - but DO NOT actually begin the flashing procedure. You can get that RUU Utility from this page:
Consolidated HTC RUU, Leak, and OTA Downloads
The RUU Utility you are looking for is listed on that page as "[ 2.36.605.1 ] a.k.a. "Leak-V3" (or MR3/"Official" RUU) - (Eclair/2.1)" -
RUU_Desire_C_Verizon_WWE_2.36.605.1_release_signed _with_driver.exe
Note that the file size and MD5 checksums are given on the above-mentioned page; use this download to familiarize yourself with computing MD5 checksums with whatever tool you decided to use.
Here's some other downloads that you should pull down to your PC in preparations for all of this:
1) The Amon_RA custom recovery (v1.6.2) - file name: recovery-RA-eris-v1.6.2.img
2) The ROOT PB00IMG.zip file - [ 2.19.605.1 ] Find this in the above URL "Consolidated HTC RUU..." - file name: Eris_RootROM_v2.19.605.1_PB00IMG.zip
3) The fastboot utility for your PC/Mac/Linux machine; you can get this from HTC about midway down this page. (Note that this page also provides you a MD5 checksum.)
I would suggest that you get your PC set up with drivers, and verify that you can communicate with your phone with the fastboot (command-line) utility, before you start doing anything to the phone. This could go smoothly, but probably depends on what O/S version you have on your PC. As I said, the easiest way to get drivers installed onto your PC is to run the RUU Utility right up to the point where you would begin flashing stuff to your phone (but then you exit that utility without actually starting the flashing operation.).
In both cases - the "dry run" of the RUU to install the USB drivers, and the communications check with the "fastboot" tool, you will need to put the phone into fastboot mode; this is done by powering the phone off completely, and then turning it on by holding the Send key and End/Power key together (make sure to press the Send key first). If you do this (and the phone and PC are connected with the USB cable), you can verify communication between the PC and the phone with the fastboot command with:
Code:
fastboot devices
If the USB drivers on your PC have been installed correctly and you are communicating with the phone, the above command will print your "device ID number" on the screen.
Once you get to this point, come back here and give a status update, and I'll provide some further instructions. (Also, since I don't know what your skills are - you might mention whether you are familiar with using the command line or other rooting/phone manipulation methods - reading between the lines, I see that you are more skilled than most of the newbs that come here looking for help)
If you get this all set up, you can also review the following descriptive article (with pictures) on how to do the PB00IMG.ZIP install - including the "battery pull trick".
You can also review a description of how to make a Nandroid backup.
bftb0
PS - One more thing to remember. While the phone is in an unusual state, it is a good idea to keep it fully charged. Don't let it sit in either HBOOT or FASTBOOT modes for extended periods of time - the phone will discharge even if it is plugged in to the charger. You can leave it in that mode for 5-10 minutes, but don't let it sit in either of those modes unattended.
Don't want to threadjack, but for easy MD5 checking on Windows or Mac, you can use HashTab (which is awesome). I can't direct link yet, but: www [dot] implbits [dot] com/Products/HashTab.aspx
I have downloaded the RUU utility and ran it to install all of the needed drivers. I have also downloaded the fastboot utility and verified that the phone and PC are talking by using the code you provided.
I have also downloaded the Amon_RA custom revovery and the ROOT PB00IMG.zip file and verified the MD5 signature for both files.
I read the link on how to do the PB00IMG.zip install including the battery pull trick and the link to how to make a nandroid backup.
I didnt do anything else but verify that the phone and PC are talking and downloaded the files that I will be needing.
I am not real familiar with rooting phones but the instructions you have given me so far are easy to follow.
Now that we verified that the phone and PC are talking, what should I do next?
Thanks again for all your help!!
kdcroswell said:
I have downloaded the RUU utility and ran it to install all of the needed drivers. I have also downloaded the fastboot utility and verified that the phone and PC are talking by using the code you provided.
I have also downloaded the Amon_RA custom revovery and the ROOT PB00IMG.zip file and verified the MD5 signature for both files.
I read the link on how to do the PB00IMG.zip install including the battery pull trick and the link to how to make a nandroid backup.
I didnt do anything else but verify that the phone and PC are talking and downloaded the files that I will be needing.
I am not real familiar with rooting phones but the instructions you have given me so far are easy to follow.
Now that we verified that the phone and PC are talking, what should I do next?
Thanks again for all your help!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK.
(1)
The first step is to charge the phone fully, and attempt the HBOOT+PB00IMG.zip install, using the "battery pull trick":
- charge the phone completely.
- move the "PB*.zip" file to the SD card top-level folder, making sure it is renamed to "PB00IMG.zip".
- Make sure to verify the MD5 of the PB00IMG.zip file on the SD card - not the copy on your computer.
- Turn your phone off.
- Take the back cover of the phone off.
- With the phone off, pull the battery a couple of times and re-insert it to get familiar with how long it takes to pull the battery. You should try to do this within one second of the screen going dark (please re-review the instruction post on AF). The timing is not super-critical, but when you press the button to start the flashing, the "bootloader" flashes very rapidly - something like 1/4 of a second, and then the screen goes dark. Practicing the battery pull will get you used to it.
- Re-review the instructions in that "Visual Example" post over on Android Forums
- Start the phone in HBOOT mode (Hold Vol-Down+End key).
Hopefully, you will not get a "Main Version is Older!" message after HBOOT unpacks and inspects the PB00IMG.zip file. If you do, proceed no further and report that result.
- Accept the flash (start it), and then pull the battery as soon as the screen goes dark. Do NOT pull the battery before the screen goes black - do it as soon as possible after it goes black.
If this all goes well, you should be able to re-start the phone to see if the bootloader flashing occurred.
DO NOT start the phone in HBOOT mode, because the PB00IMG.zip will repeat again., Instead, after you re-insert the battery, start the phone in FASTBOOT mode: Send+End.
You should see "S-OFF" and "1.49.2000" if the flash succeeded.
(Note: some people have reported that occasionally, the "flashing" process will continue after powering up the phone, even though this is not the desired outcome. I have done the "battery pull" trick with the HBOOT+(Root) PB00IMG.zip install perhaps 50 times, and I think it happened to me twice. If this occurs, don't panic - just let it go to completion.)
(2)
If the flash succeeded, put the phone into FASTBOOT mode (Send+End), and perform a soft-boot of the Amon_RA image:
Code:
fastboot boot recovery-RA-eris-v1.6.2.img
The easiest way to make this work is to have the "recovery-RA-eris-v1.6.2.img" file in the same folder that you have the "fastboot.exe" program in (unless you have changed your PATH environment variable to include that location; in that case you can run the program from any "current directory").
This is one of the features of the S-OFF bootloader: using the "fastboot" program, you can shove a bootable image across the USB connection, and tell the phone to boot it up; doing this does not alter any of the flash memory on the phone. You should be able to use Amon_RA to make an initial Nandroid backup at this point.
I'll add another post to this in a couple minutes.
bftb0
OK.
Now, normally - if the phone in question had not been acting up when it was "stock", we would be proceeding much more rapidly. But, in the past, we have observed cases where just "flashing" a ROM, especially using the RUU utility or HBOOT+PB00IMG.zip method can cause the phone to become a hard brick if there are problems with the flash memory partitions.
So, download the attached "flashable .zip" file: MTD_Inspect_v0.9.zip
File: MTD_Inspect_v0.9.zip
Size: 2,786,881 bytes
MD5: 17a39da9d554bef76930ea0499fc8851
You can transfer files to your SD card when it is in Amon_RA recovery - that is the menu item "MS-USB" toggle. Use that mode to transfer this file ("MTD_Inspect_v0.9.zip") to the root folder of your SD card.
(BTW, since you are using the "MS-USB" toggle feature, now is a good time to rename or delete the PB00IMG.zip file on the SD card - you don't wan't the install to re-start automatically should you accidentally start the phone in HBOOT mode)
(BTW #2, I should mention that your phone will charge when it is running Amon_RA - so it is safe to leave the phone in Amon_RA recovery for extended periods of time - so long as you eventually plug it in either via USB, or on a charger)
You can "flash" this above package after you have transferred it to your phone. It actually doesn't "flash" anything - it runs a diagnostic program to look at the health of your phone's flash memory.
When it finishes, it will create a report file on the SD card named "MTD_Inspect.txt". It will have some lines of text at the top of the file which look like this. Post the top of that report (as shown below).
(I just ran this on my phone - this shows you what the first several lines of that file look like)
Code:
Eris MTD Partition Status Report Generated on Wed Mar 16 05:20:45 UTC 2011
PARTITION DEVICE_NAME SIZE(Bytes) BAD_BLOCKS #_E-BLKS ECC_FAIL ECC_CORR BBT_BLOCKS
misc /dev/mtd/mtd0 655360 0 5 0 0 0
recovery /dev/mtd/mtd1 5242880 0 40 0 0 0
boot /dev/mtd/mtd2 2621440 0 20 0 0 0
system /dev/mtd/mtd3 178257920 1 1360 0 0 0
cache /dev/mtd/mtd4 136314880 1 1040 0 0 0
userdata /dev/mtd/mtd5 167247872 0 1276 0 0 0
What I am most interested to look at are the "bad block" counts. Some phones have none; as you can see my phone has 1 bad block in each of the system and cache partitions. (Zero or low numbers are OK - we are just checking here to see if there is anything horribly wrong).
Also, BTW - please report if you saw any errors reported when you make the Nandroid backup. You will see an "E:" and a message on-screen if an error occurs.
bftb0
Hi kd,
It occurred to me that - because you had already performed a "factory reset" procedure using the stock recovery boot - that there is little value in performing a Nandroid backup. (Although, if errors occur during the backup, that information could be useful for diagnostic purposes).
I had been thinking something along the lines of "wouldn't it be great to get hand the phone back to the wife just as she had last used it" - but that is clearly impossible if the /data partition got cleaned up.
So... what you probably want to do is download a ROM file to load onto the phone after we review the results of the "MTD_Inspect.txt" report.
The one that will be most familiar to your wife, and 100% stock, is this one:
[ROM] HTC Eris March 2011 OTA Stock ROM - v2.41.605.6
It's not even rooted - it literally is identical to the most recent "stock" HTC/VZW code for the Eris. Putting a rooted ROM on the phone is also possible, and there are versions that are extremely close to stock, such as "xtrSense 5.0", if you want to put that on the phone as an alternative. (The phone will be a little snappier in it's behavior.)
Anyway, you might want to download a ROM file, transfer it to the root folder of your SD card, and verify it's "MD5" signature (the copy on the SD card, not the one on the computer).
Assuming that no problems occurred with the Nandroid backup and the "MTD_Inspect.txt" report doesn't indicate huge problems with any of the "boot", "system", "userdata", or "cache" partitions, the next step you will be taking is to flash the ROM file using the Amon_RA menu.
bftb0
Hey bftb0,
I have followed the steps you listed and successfully flashed the bootloader to 1.492000 and performed a soft-boot of the Amon_RA image. I created a nandroid backup without any errors.
I downloaded the attached MTD_Inspect_v0.9.zip file and transfered it to the sd card using Amon_RA custom recovery tool and flashed it. I attached the report it left on the sd card.
bftb0 said:
I had been thinking something along the lines of "wouldn't it be great to get hand the phone back to the wife just as she had last used it" - but that is clearly impossible if the /data partition got cleaned up.
So... what you probably want to do is download a ROM file to load onto the phone after we review the results of the "MTD_Inspect.txt" report.
The one that will be most familiar to your wife, and 100% stock, is this one:
[ROM] HTC Eris March 2011 OTA Stock ROM - v2.41.605.6
It's not even rooted - it literally is identical to the most recent "stock" HTC/VZW code for the Eris. Putting a rooted ROM on the phone is also possible, and there are versions that are extremely close to stock, such as "xtrSense 5.0", if you want to put that on the phone as an alternative. (The phone will be a little snappier in it's behavior.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the wife will be happy with a working android phone. She is currently using an old windows phone (HTC ozone). I think she would be very happy with xtr sense.50 rom if it makes the phone a little snappier. She had complaints about the stock rom lagging between making calls and what not.
After you take a look at the inspect report and don't see anything out of the ordinary, I can give it a shot.
I will wait for your reply.
OK, everything looks normal. (1 bad block in /cache, but I don't know why that would cause a problem)
Go ahead and flash a ROM file after performing a
wipe -> wipe data/factory reset
in Amon_RA.
Watch the screen carefully for any errors (indicated with an "E:")
If flashing of the ROM succeeds, power the phone off with the menu, start it up in fastboot mode (Send+End), and then perform a flashing operation of the recovery partition:
Code:
fastboot flash recovery recovery-RA-eris-v1.6.2.img
Then, after waiting for all visible activity to cease on the screen, pull the battery, re-insert it, and power the phone up normally. It will take quite a bit longer to get to the initial screen than normal, but that is typical for a first boot.
Let me know if you see any errors anywhere - watch the phone closely through all these steps.
bftb0
kd
I just remembered that - because you did a factory reset with the stock recovery on your phone - you will need to "activate" the phone.
The phone may request to do activation during the initial start up of the phone. I think that any other phone which is registered on that line needs to be switched off for this to work correctly (but am not completely sure, since I don't flop back and forth between phones). I guess that means that the Ozone should be off when you start up the phone.
If you've already gone past that point and need to do it manually, dial *228, and then enter option 1.
Whether this works or not depends on what Verizon did for you when you visited them. (It won't work if they removed the phone from the account) If it doesn't activate, give Verizon a call on another line and tell them "your phone came back from the dead".
bftb0
No errors!!!!
She now has xtrSense 5.0 running on her phone and it booted up!!!!!!
Thank you for all the help you provided!!
We activated the ozone when we got home from Chicago by dialing *228 opt 1.
So after I got the new rom loaded on her eris, I followed the prompts and activated the phone again.
Everything seems to be working normal again!!
I can't thank you enough for all the help you gave me!!
So far, running the xtrSense rom, the only thing that she has noticed different was the internet icon in the apps list. I got her facebook set up without any issues. (thats all she really cares about)
Thanks again for everything!!!
OK, you're welcome.
Sorry we went through a lot of extra effort (I was afraid of a scenario that didn't exist on your phone), but it sounds like your wife had a phone to use in the meantime.
Make sure to get rid of the PB00IMG.zip file (either delete it or rename it or move it out of the top-level folder) so it doesn't cause any disruption should the phone get booted into HBOOT mode.
A couple of other points are worthwhile to make, too.
1) You are an Eris rooter now, whether you wanted it or not
2) If you flashed the recovery ("fastboot flash recovery recov..."), you can now boot directly in to it (the custom recovery) by holding the Vol-Up and End/Power buttons when the phone is turned off.
3) You have means to make complete backups on your wife's phone with Nandroid. Once she has her phone fully configured, you might want to do that once as a insurance policy against further disasters.
Cheers and safe travels,
bftb0
PS It didn't escape me that you had absolutely no troubles with any of this stuff, including the command line, which usually eludes younger windows users. Compute much?
That was no big deal going through the extra effort! I am just relieved that we dont have to puchurse a different eris thru craiglist or ebay.
I deleted the PB00IMG.zip file when you mentioned it in a previous step.
I am going to have to look into rooting my phone now!! It was kind of fun!
I wouldn't say that I compute much. When I was a child and first introduced to computers, there was no such thing as windows. It was all dos. My father is a software engineer so I picked up alot from him back in the dos days.
My wife can't thank you enough for all the information you provided!
Cheers to you!!
kdcroswell
Hello,
I want to send out a Heavy thanks for this thread. I too was able to restore my wife's phone and flashed xtrsense 5.0. All other forums I visited for this topic ended with a verizon exchange and that wasn't possible for me. But right on! this was a tremendous help. Thanks again!
bftb0, I am having the same issue but it seems the process may be a little different for me do to my boot loader.
Mine shows 1.49.0000 S-ON
I did all of the same steps up to the point that I received the error as follows.
"Main Version is Older!" message after HBOOT unpacks and inspects the PB00IMG.zip file.
You advised to Stop and ask for further guidance so I am doing that now.
In advance I appreciate the help. This thread has been more helpful than any other resource I have found so far.
Related
OK well I have trying my best as a noob to research for 2 days not in and out on how to fix my issue
My friend tried rooting my phone and to install a different rom. I am on 2.1 and unfortunately I got the phone used with 2.1 already on it so I don't know if it was a leaked or legit 2.1 rom, and I am learning as I go here to fix this issue as I have never new how to do this stuff nor have I ever done it.
Where I am at now:
only thing that happens when I hit power is the phone "vibrates then stays on the 3 skateboard screen" or press "volume down + power" and it goes to the Hboot screen. I go into recovery and it goes to clockworkmod and from there after trying to install any roms from the sd card it says on the last 3 lines
"E:Failure at line 9:
copy_dir PACKAGE:system SYSTEM:
Installation aborted.
and every time I go back or power up to the Hboot screen it does not have any "update bar" (I guess if this was done right as I read on other threads there should be some type of update bar) on the right corner or any other options "for me to select" accept:
FASTBOOT
RECOVERY
CLEAR STORAGE
SIMLOCK
and then with some other info above the Hboot highlighted in blue
I have tried formatting the sd card a bunch of times, I did the clearing of the "wipe data, wipe cache partition, wipe dalvikcache" as I read to do over my reading, but I see that if I go under any restore options under clockwork, no files are found for me to back up too so I am seeing he did not back up any of my info, I also have tried using 2 different ds cards.
So more less it looks like my options are to get this fixed from the only place my phone will boot to with options and thats when I press volume + and power so I guess loading whatever I need to my sd card>>if thats an option or am I screwed, I have seen many tutorials but none of them start where my particular position is stuck at in Hboot. this is my only phone and I had to buy a prepaid which is just about out of minutes, I put an add on craigslist trying to get someone I will pay to fix my issue but no luck, please I need help and I will pay u somehow to guide me through this of my exact issue, I was trying to get to rom 2.3 but if it's easier to get back to 2.1 rom then so be it.
PLEASE!~~
Please HELP!
Cheeva316 said:
Please HELP!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got a solution in the making for you, just give me about 30 minutes.
Edit: Maybe 45 minutes lol, sorry i'm testing this before I have you do it to see if it works.
Ok download the following files:
http://www.mediafire.com/?njwqa7axwzyaqgb
http://www.mediafire.com/?f69cl8dc747h0l9
http://www.mediafire.com/?xg8nnqs177xggx4
http://www.mediafire.com/?qxpi5wsx5lzbhbo
http://www.mediafire.com/?4tg67hck7vh1xxs
Edit: Flash the "rootme.zip" first then follow the rest.
Now what you need to do first is extract the "nandroid" file to somewhere you can easily find it.
Now take the folder called "nandroid" along with all the other zip files you downloaded and place them on your sd card. Put your sd card in your phone and power on with volume down+end. Press volume up. Use the trackball to select "Backup/Restore". Use the trackball again to select "Nand Restore". Use it again to select "HT9BGHG01402". Use it again to select "BDS-20110125-0901". Let the restore run, then power off your phone. Turn your phone back on with just the power button, let it run (might even take up to 10 minutes for the phone to start up). Let me know if the phone boots up or not after about 10-15 minutes. This should work and if it does then we can go from there, even to getting you 2.3 if you want.
You might be asking, what the hell is he having me do ? Here's what i'm doing. I made a nandroid backup a few months ago of when I had kaosfroyov39 which is a 2.2 rom. I am going to have you flash MY backup to YOUR phone which when done right, CAN work. Anyway, let me know what happens and remember to give the phone about 10-15 minutes to boot all the way.
Cheeva316 said:
"E:Failure at line 9:
copy_dir PACKAGE:system SYSTEM:
Installation aborted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
( Another phone on the precipice of being ruined by someone's cobbled-together "clockwork" recovery. )
If the /system flash memory partition got corrupted in a way that left a lot of pages marked as bad pages, then the /system partition will be "short", and only small ROMs will successfully load into it, if at all. That might be the cause of the above error messages.
But - because you are using Clockwork, there is really no way to know if that is the case, or if you simply have a whole bunch of corrupted ROM files on your SD card. That's because Clockwork does not verify ROM files before it starts flashing them - which allows total garbage to be flashed to the phone. (That's why Clockwork should never be used by newbs).
Here's what I would suggest you do.
- Make sure you are keeping the phone well charged. (Leaving the phone in HBOOT mode will discharge the battery quickly, even if it is plugged in to the charger, BTW).
- Report the exact bootloader version you have - probably 1.47.0000 or 1.49.0000, but it could be something other. Please be precise.
- With the power off, eject the SD card out of the slot and see if you can boot into the normal HBOOT menu with no SD card in the slot. Report your result.
- Boot into the recovery menu and tell us what version # of the recovery you have. If you can determine the details of how your friend attempted to root the phone, that might be pertinent. Again - precise details are valuable; vague hand-waving not so much.
- The Amon_RA recovery has a mode ("USB-MS toggle") which allows you to mount the SD card to the PC. Does your "Clockwork" recovery have this feature, or are you able to put files onto the micro-SD card using a media slot on a PC?
- Be aware that one or two people that were in situations that are very close to what you described ended up bricking their phones because they went from where you are now to attempting to use either a PB00IMG.ZIP ROM, or an RUU utility. Their phones went from bootable (in the way that yours is now) to bricks in that process.
What I would suggest you do at the moment is to find the SMALLEST Eris** ROM you can find, get it onto your SD card, verify that you didn't corrupt it, and then perform a "wipe data/factory reset" in your recovery and attempt to install it. If you get the same errors as above, then you should definitely NOT try to do a PB00IMG.ZIP or RUU installation. (The current gingerbread ROMs (e.g. GSB v1.4) are pretty small - they only use about 65% of the /system partition.)
I have a flashable "repair" file which might be applicable. It is not a "ROM" per se - it uses some low-level MTD (flash memory) repair techniques, and also flashes into place the original Amon_RA (v1.6.2) recovery, instead of whatever p.o.s. "Clockwork" recovery you currently have on the phone; but I regard it as something which should only be used as a last resort. But - without some more details and testing on your part, I don't feel comfortable about posting it up.
Let me know.
**PS I wanted to ask one more question - this is an Eris we are talking about, right? (I note you were posting in the Hero CDMA forum not so long ago).
Well I want to thank you for replying with such info but it seems that the recovery image file that I reinstalled on the phone was bad cause when it was updating the bar was going up but as it was going through each item it was updating.. I noticed "bootloader in red letters" with I believe saying "error" next to it and then same on another item it tried updating then the phone powered off and now it's dead, tried everything, no charging light comes on, computer (2 different computers) wont reconize it, it's doing nothing at all, I will try to get my hands on another battery but I am broke, but I doubt it's the battery cause I heard with a bootloader error (or damaged) then the phone won't boot up or do anything so I guess the phone is scrap for parts which sucks cause now my friend who started this deal killed my only phone me n my family had, another lesson learned...time to try n sell some stuff on craigslist..damn
Yes it's a Droid Eris...or was! damnnnn...
Again thank you for your help very much appreciated...
Wish I would of read this part before I let my friend re-load the "PB00IMG.ZIP" cause thats exactly what he loaded and then it started the process what I jus described above..f***k!
Be aware that one or two people that were in situations that are very close to what you described ended up bricking their phones because they went from where you are now to attempting to use either a PB00IMG.ZIP ROM, or an RUU utility. Their phones went from bootable (in the way that yours is now) to bricks in that process.
Cheeva316 said:
Wish I would of read this part before I let my friend re-load the "PB00IMG.ZIP" cause thats exactly what he loaded and then it started the process what I jus described above..f***k!
Be aware that one or two people that were in situations that are very close to what you described ended up bricking their phones because they went from where you are now to attempting to use either a PB00IMG.ZIP ROM, or an RUU utility. Their phones went from bootable (in the way that yours is now) to bricks in that process.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I am very sorry that this happened to you and my advice to you didn't reach you in time. From the details that you added, I am pretty sure that you indeed have a hard brick.
BUT - the death of your Eris can still help others avoid the same fate. If you can reconstruct the rooting process you went through,
[SIZE=+2]PLEASE LET US KNOW EXACTLY WHAT ROOTING METHOD YOU USED[/SIZE] - and then we can wave people away from it.
When I say exactly, I mean extremely specific: do you still have the download file that you used? If so, push it up to an uploader site and give a link to it. (I think you mentioned unrevoked or something). Do you still have the exact link you used to download that rooting software? Was it Unrevoked? Z4root?
bftb0
I will tomorrow as I saved all the files on my laptop n I am on my pc now, but will do try my best as I am a newb to this phone stuff
Did you try what I suggested or is it too late ?
phone wont do anything so cant do nothing...
Did you find out any more details about the rooting method you used?
might be a couple more days till I can get to it, my laptop is messing up now...all the saved info was on it
I've been trying to install smoke in a bottle, and when trying to revert back to the original ROM on my G tab, I had issues of it not showing up on my computer when connceted. Now, however, I've run NVFlash...And first it got stuck in an endless boot loop, the N symbol would show up then it would turn off, and restart the process.
I then went ahead and did an NVflash format, a-la http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=974422
Then did a standard NVflash.
Now I get a 'magic number mismatch' with some odd garbled symbols with the occasional V, and refuses to boot at all except into APX mode. I can NVflash it into oblivion, but it still gives that error and has absolutely no indication it is on unless I use NVflash when it's in APX.
Furthermore, it seems to have no recovery mode at all, leaving me wondering if I've managed to just permanently brick this thing.
Wonderful.
If I've managed to overlook something simple, I apologize.
My site.
http://viewsonic-gtablet-for-dummies.webs.com/starthere.htm
Start with code red.
You are now my personal e-hero. Thank you so much.
For some reason when I performed the "Code Red" it booted back to normal. Now when I restart it goes straight into APX mode. Any suggestions? Also, when I ran NVFLASH it didn't reformat. It is like I just turned it back on. It runs fine until I try and turn it off. Then it will only start in APX mode.
Don't give up!
Here is a link to the series of steps I used that brought my tablet back to properly functioning state (I too struggled for a while with only being able to boot with nvflash). I saw tonight where the steps worked for someone else as well.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=15432280&postcount=19
accidentally posted twice....this one can be deleted.
The problem is I can't boot into recovery. I can only boot in to APX mode. It seems all the fixes are for you to be able to boot into recovery. I have been reading for hours and I am lost.
If you read and follow djab67's procedure carefully you'll see that it will force the tablet to boot into recovery. I use the same technique in my procedure (linked below and has the added benefit of not requiring ADB). I highly recommend you try his procedure as I've looked it over very carefully and it should take care of your problem. If it doesn't please let us know and we'll find you another solution.
My procedure: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=13474033&postcount=114
Been there. Don't fret. I've done so many terrible things to my G Tablet and it hasn't died on me yet. I'm pretty sure with the hardware and this community, this tablet is unbrickable.
If you can get into APX mode and your PC will recognize it when you run the NVFlash script, you are ok. If it doesn't see it when you run the script, there is still hope.
I have tried djab67's fix I don't know how many times now. Every time I click on the .bat file it tells me the file is gone. I have tried downloading it from multiple different posts with the same let down on each of them. Could my problem be that my rom is the current 4349 set up?
cryorayne,
I am going to go out on a limb here because it sounds like you are running windows on your pc (based on you choosing to use the ".bat" file instead of the ".sh" file), so hopefully another current windows user can validate my response.
It may be best to run the bat file from within the windows command window rather than trying to double click launch with in explorer (file manager, not the browser). Once at the command prompt you also need to navigate the old fashioned DOS way to your working folder location.
It is extremely important to set up all the files in a location the bat file expects to find them. Open up the bat file for editing and check any file/folder paths that are defined. You may need to change them to point to your nvflash working area.
Another thing to check is to make sure your user account on windows has administrator permissions (not just "standard user"). A while back, when I used windows more heavily, I seem to recall some cases where I had to give myself "system" level permissions to do some types of things. However, I highly doubt you need that level to run a batch file with nvflash.
Hope this helps. The steps worked for me and I have seen where at least one other person has used them successfully, so they should also work for you. Getting all the tools and files in place and set up for your computer is a key to success.
Finally, if your various downloads came from sources other than those I referenced in the write-up, then I suggest re-downloading and checking the hash sums.
Hope this helps.
Re-posted restore guide with a little additional information
Just wanted to let everyone know that I re-posted the restore steps as a thread (as opposed to a "reply" where it sits today). I was hesitant to do that before I knew the steps had worked for at least one other person. Should be a little easier to find now. Also, I added a little clarifying content to help with understanding APX Mode and nvflash use.
I am hoping the community can help with responding to requests for help. I try to read questions and respond, but don't have the time to be as quick as I would like and I know from experience how frustrating it can be to have "soft bricked" g tab.
As I learn additional information I will add content to the thread from time to time. However, I do not plan on changing the original steps (except maybe for format reasons) since they are the exact ones that worked for me.
Thread Link:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1167944
My viewpad 7 is boot-looping, it is restarting before reaching the launcher screen, and also stuck while booting into cw recovery mode. I changed font files of the root before this happened. Any way to restore it's rom without using cw recovery mode? Is it possible to boot from sd card?
Can you boot your VPAD7 into CW Recovery Mode ? (Hold down Vol. UP and Vol. Down buttons and press Power at the same time to get into recovery mode)
Anyway, you most likely need to flash a stock ROM first using the SUTL3_v1.7.9 utility available from Viewsonic and then one of the FM6*.nb0 files - it might not recognize or "see" the device, keep trying & reset/reboot and use that small "reset" button on the bottom if necessary.
Check your FTM (Factory Test Mode) for your Hardware & Software build info - and try to match the closest *.nb0 file for flashing. Hold down Vol. Down while pressing Power to start & run FTM, use tiny pin hole to press & reset device/exit this mode.
I haven't done this in a while, but it will most likely change the device back to unrooted, stock form. And, you will lose all your custom app settings - but it should come to life after a successful flash, restart & give it 5 to 10 minutes to complete initial install & setup - and, you should see your original screen again.
Then, follow steps to get it rooted again, do a NAND backup & set it aside for safe keeping, then reflash your choice of custom Rom, etc. Detailed directions are here on XDA - good luck & let us know if we can be of further help ....
I was making the root to my viewpad 7, and during the process, I took out the cable by accident. And now it's impossible for me that the process finish, it always stuck. Some ideas, please?
luisete123 said:
making root .... and during the process .... took out the cable .... And now it's stuck. Some ideas, please?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OMG, okay - relax & take a deep breath ....
It should be recoverable, I think - you will just need to flash the "proper" factory stock ROM first, get it working again & then repeat the rooting process.
First, check your hardware/software version in the FTM mode (it's for diagnostic, flash & download to ROM, etc. ....) & safe to do - hold down the left Volume Down key on top while pressing the Power button with the device off. If necessary, get someone to reset the device (use the smallest pin hole on the bottom of the device.) A pin works best but small paper clip will do.
In a few moment, it will show "Enter FTM Mode" and then display the VPAD7's info -
SWVer=3.410 or whatever is on yours
Model: FM6-0001 or whatever yours say
HWVer: 107 (106, 103 or whatever)
What to do with this info - it will help you select the correct or closest factory ROM to flash & restore your Vpad7 to stock condition, unrooted.
You will need one of the SULT3 or for oldest ROM, maybe SULT2 is better - download & save to PC, unzip the SULT* - and follow onscreen prompt & instructions to select your *.nb0 file.
Another suggestions, since you cannot get into Recovery Mode to wipe dalvik, cache & full system/data first, it might help to flash the *.nb0 file twice - it will take a bit of time, maybe 10 minutes or so and a few more minutes to do its initial boot-up configuration. Be patient - and write down any error messages, etc. if you run into problem.
It's best to take out any SIM card and even mSD card from your device, not required but recommended. When you can boot up again & get pass the Android activation wizard/screen, you can power down - put the mSD card back in and reboot again.
http://vsg.viewsonic.com/ViewPad7/
Good luck - there's a wealth of helpful info posted here, please set aside & take time to read it first & refer to those notes. Good Luck & Cheers - let us know if you succeed ....
A thousand of thanks Letitride!!
Before continue making mistakes, I want to ask if there is any problem to use SULT3 (because I read u posted it before) instead of SULT2, because yesterday, before post my question, I already installed SULT3_v1.7.9...
When I enter FTM Mode, the display shows:
SWVer=3.16R
Model: FM6-0001
HWVer: 106
So now I dont understand. I am a little bit lost, but I think I must to download something else from the viewsonic web that u posted (I can't repeat the link because I am new), isn't it?
Thanks again for your help. I know there are lots of help already posted, but about my problem I didnt find anything, that's why I asked. Thanks!!
Ok, I will explain what I tried, and the next error:
As I said, I already installed SUTL3_v1.7.9, so I used it. I downlodes for the viewsonic web that you posted FM6-316Q-0-1008-A01.nb0, and this is the error that the program said me:
Error Code: 0x4000
Error: Task 2 of 3, Download Image fail
Error = DEVICE_NOT_CONFIGURE (0x4000).
Maybe I need to uninstall SUTL3_v1.7.9 and try with SUTL2.1_v1.8.4? During the process I don't need to select nothing in the ViewPad screen, do I?
Thanks again!
EDIT:
I installed the SUTL2.1_v1.8.4 (without unistall the SUTL3_v1.7.9, and there is the next error:
Error Code: 0xf626
Error: Task 2 of 3, Download Image fail
Error = QPD_ERROR_ARMPRG_hello_TBUFFER (0xF626).
luisete123 said:
Ok, I will explain what I tried, and the next error:
I installed SUTL3_v1.7.9, FM6-316Q-0-1008-A01.nb0, the error:
Error Code: 0x4000
Error: Task 2 of 3, Download Image fail
Error = DEVICE_NOT_CONFIGURE (0x4000).
EDIT:I installed SUTL2.1_v1.8.4 (without SUTL3_v1.7.9, and next error:
Error Code: 0xf626
Error: Task 2 of 3, Download Image fail
Error = QPD_ERROR_ARMPRG_hello_TBUFFER (0xF626).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It looked like there might be a problem with your downloaded Image files itself - corrupted ? See if you can use a different PC to download the FM6-316Q again, and when you are ready to flash, put it in the same sub-directory as the installed SUTL2 sub-directory ....
Most likely, your device is non-ITE and as I recall, the FM6-3310 and 3350 nb0 files should work on your device & perhaps free of errors (not corrupted) - download it & try flashing it (besides, you got nothing to lose as your device isn't booting up anyway) - let us know what happen later.
Worst case situation, contact VS support & get authorization to return it for repair (if within warranty period)
Cheers & Happy "flashing" and let's hope one of the *.nb0 files work.
P.S. If anyone else has a working saved nb0 file for luisete123, please post a link for download or PM, whatever .... am sure s/he will appreciate our aid.
Letitride said:
It looked like there might be a problem with your downloaded Image files itself - corrupted ? See if you can use a different PC to download the FM6-316Q again, and when you are ready to flash, put it in the same sub-directory as the installed SUTL2 sub-directory ....
Most likely, your device is non-ITE and as I recall, the FM6-3310 and 3350 nb0 files should work on your device & perhaps free of errors (not corrupted) - download it & try flashing it (besides, you got nothing to lose as your device isn't booting up anyway) - let us know what happen later.
Worst case situation, contact VS support & get authorization to return it for repair (if within warranty period)
Cheers & Happy "flashing" and let's hope one of the *.nb0 files work.
P.S. If anyone else has a working saved nb0 file for luisete123, please post a link for download or PM, whatever .... am sure s/he will appreciate our aid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again thanks a lot Letitride!!!
I downloades it again in another laptop (FM6-316Q and SUTL2), and I did it and... IT WORKS!! I think it was a problem while I was downloading yesterday, because I don't know why, the speed was very very low. Otherwise I can't understand, because in this other laptop that I tried, the Windows is not original, and in mine it is...
So now, as I understand, I can root it without any problems, can't I? I will wait untill tomorrow, because I am on hurry now, and I dont wan't to do any more mistake
I am really greatful Letitride, thanks again!
luisete123 said:
Again thanks a lot Letitride!!!
I downloades it again in another laptop (FM6-316Q and SUTL2), and I did it and... IT WORKS!! I can root it without any problems, can't I?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cheers - yes, we are happy for you. Never rush when doing these cool things to our device, I've seen stories about the family pet (cat/dog) jumping around & pulling the USB cable while it was doing .... you know, things happened but luckily, it was saved & you're recovered.
Now, you should be able to ROOT it again, just use SuperOneClick v1.7 & read/follow directions, or use GingerBreak.apk (it's easier but I've done both myself) - as soon as you do, boot back into ClockWorkMod Recovery, and do a BACKUP of your 316Q first, so that later on - you can easily flash the stock.
Then you can start to flash various custom ROM here, yours is most likely non-ITE hardware, so most of the ROM work - unless it is ITE specific. Good Luck & Happy Flashing.
Letitride said:
Cheers - yes, we are happy for you. Never rush when doing these cool things to our device, I've seen stories about the family pet (cat/dog) jumping around & pulling the USB cable while it was doing .... you know, things happened but luckily, it was saved & you're recovered.
Now, you should be able to ROOT it again, just use SuperOneClick v1.7 & read/follow directions, or use GingerBreak.apk (it's easier but I've done both myself) - as soon as you do, boot back into ClockWorkMod Recovery, and do a BACKUP of your 316Q first, so that later on - you can easily flash the stock.
Then you can start to flash various custom ROM here, yours is most likely non-ITE hardware, so most of the ROM work - unless it is ITE specific. Good Luck & Happy Flashing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am again really thank you! But, I still have the same problem... I am trying to use SuperOneClick v1.7 program, and again get stuck...
I will try with GingerBreak, but I was reading here another post about this program and I will need to read it again, in order not to make another stupid mistake!!
Cheers anyways!!
Here is where I was at, ready to throw away the phone I ruined. I was rooted and S-ON and unlocked via HTC unlock bootloader web page. I was happily trying new things here when my phone went to all white background with green HTC letters. Wouldnt do anything. While trying to fix that I erased my backup and the software on the phone. I let the phone sit all day hoping the white backgound would go away but no. It wouldnt even power off. But I able to get into bootloader by doing this: Hold down power and volume up for 10 seconds, as soon as the screen goes blank slide finger down to volume down and hold. This got me into boot loader. I tried all the things outlined here to recover (using abd commands, fastboot *.img files nandroid backups, sideloading etc. My CID shows CWS_001 and next to the OS field is blank. Pulled the SIM and SD card to erase cache, no help. Wipe delvick, data, etc all failed with the E: unable to mount message. 2 Days gone by with not even a glimmer of recovering phone
So I went to HTC support download news (sorry cant post a link until 10 posts) and downloaded the RUU that contains the 4.4.3 update. This is an exe file that updates your phone. It failed on the first go. So I relocked the phone using wonders_never_cease M8 all in one kit, then double clicked on the RUU app again. It took off and ran. It is menu driven so I answered all the acknowledgements and got to the update screen. On that screen "current version field was blank and update to field reflected the new RUU version. The instructions tell you to put your phone into recovery mode and select fastboot. My Windows PC already had the HTC drivers loaded. I was shocked when the app began loading modules without failing. I didnt have to do anything except put attach usb cable to phone from PC and put the phone in fastboot. 10 mins later, the phone rebooted and my hated ATT logo and tune showed. Am up and running on 4.4.3 and new firmware.
Everything works fine on the phone (no modules missing). So it appears the "upgrade" will wipe partition and reload all the software on the phone without doing much of anything else. Thought I post this up for any other semi-noob that got into trouble and just wants a working phone. I am not sure a phone that is S-OFF would work but it doesnt hurt to try. I do understand HTC stopped the OTA update due to battery draining issues but the download is still available for fastboot. Am just happy to have a working phone. Now will make a backup in TWRP immediately. Over and out....Michael
sethandian said:
Here is where I was at, ready to throw away the phone I ruined. I was rooted and S-ON and unlocked via HTC unlock bootloader web page. I was happily trying new things here when my phone went to all white background with green HTC letters. Wouldnt do anything. While trying to fix that I erased my backup and the software on the phone. I let the phone sit all day hoping the white backgound would go away but no. It wouldnt even power off. But I able to get into bootloader by doing this: Hold down power and volume up for 10 seconds, as soon as the screen goes blank slide finger down to volume down and hold. This got me into boot loader. I tried all the things outlined here to recover (using abd commands, fastboot *.img files nandroid backups, sideloading etc. My CID shows CWS_001 and next to the OS field is blank. Pulled the SIM and SD card to erase cache, no help. Wipe delvick, data, etc all failed with the E: unable to mount message. 2 Days gone by with not even a glimmer of recovering phone
So I went to HTC support download news (sorry cant post a link until 10 posts) and downloaded the RUU that contains the 4.4.3 update. This is an exe file that updates your phone. It failed on the first go. So I relocked the phone using wonders_never_cease M8 all in one kit, then double clicked on the RUU app again. It took off and ran. It is menu driven so I answered all the acknowledgements and got to the update screen. On that screen "current version field was blank and update to field reflected the new RUU version. The instructions tell you to put your phone into recovery mode and select fastboot. My Windows PC already had the HTC drivers loaded. I was shocked when the app began loading modules without failing. I didnt have to do anything except put attach usb cable to phone from PC and put the phone in fastboot. 10 mins later, the phone rebooted and my hated ATT logo and tune showed. Am up and running on 4.4.3 and new firmware.
Everything works fine on the phone (no modules missing). So it appears the "upgrade" will wipe partition and reload all the software on the phone without doing much of anything else. Thought I post this up for any other semi-noob that got into trouble and just wants a working phone. I am not sure a phone that is S-OFF would work but it doesnt hurt to try. I do understand HTC stopped the OTA update due to battery draining issues but the download is still available for fastboot. Am just happy to have a working phone. Now will make a backup in TWRP immediately. Over and out....Michael
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
congratulations that you restore your device. the link for the RUU its already posted in the General Forum http://forum.xda-developers.com/att-htc-one-m8/general/htc-one-m8-ruu-m8ul-4-4-3-t2860423
also a bootable no pc version of it http://forum.xda-developers.com/att...-2-23-502-3-bootable-ruu-pc-required-t2860486
as well as the OTA http://forum.xda-developers.com/att-htc-one-m8/general/htc-m8-4-4-3-official-ota-t2860139
t5620 said:
congratulations that you restore your device. the link for the RUU its already posted in the General Forum http://forum.xda-developers.com/att-htc-one-m8/general/htc-one-m8-ruu-m8ul-4-4-3-t2860423
also a bootable no pc version of it http://forum.xda-developers.com/att...-2-23-502-3-bootable-ruu-pc-required-t2860486
as well as the OTA http://forum.xda-developers.com/att-htc-one-m8/general/htc-m8-4-4-3-official-ota-t2860139
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for posting up the links.
sethandian said:
Here is where I was at, ready to throw away the phone I ruined.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As long as the screen comes on for this phone, its virtually always recoverable. There was never any reason to think you had to throw away the phone. Next time you are stuck, just ask for help here; as we are happy to help. You did the right thing in trying to find existing solutions. But it sounds like you did your due diligence searching and reading; and would have been justified starting a new thread and asking for help.
sethandian said:
Everything works fine on the phone (no modules missing). So it appears the "upgrade" will wipe partition and reload all the software on the phone without doing much of anything else.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is precisely what the RUU does. Its a complete image, and handy for recovery purposes.
sethandian said:
I do understand HTC stopped the OTA update due to battery draining issues but the download is still available for fastboot. l
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While the OTA has had some reports of causing battery issues, the RUU has not had any reports of such issue, and seems to be free of it.
sethandian said:
I am not sure a phone that is S-OFF would work but it doesnt hurt to try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
S-off does not affect whether or not the RUU will work, I don't know why folks keep saying or asking this. RUU will work whether S-on or S-off. The only difference, is that with S-on, you need to either have a LOCKED bootloader, or RELOCKED (relock it manually if you unlocked it).
Also, in general, S-off does not limit anything. It means "all security off" and enables more access, not the opposite. If anything, S-off enables more things than S-on.
Thanks for the all the info. The experience was a valuable teaching moment. Now back to playing around with the M8.
Hello, XDA forumites!
I've been lurking and reading a lot of threads in here for years, using all your knowledge to fix various phones. Today though is the day I first post and it is for good reason. I'm a guy who loves challenges but this one is making me go insane. I've spend the last two days looking for ways to fix this phone but NOTHING works.
So, the deal is that this phone turns on fine. It boots, it gets to the lockscreen and... it restarts itself. Again and again and again until the battery is removed. To fix it, I've tried the following:
- recovering/updating it through the Huawei official "firmware" supplied by the site: you put the file they supply on an SD card, inside a folder named "dload" and then hold vol up and down along with the power button to make the phone install the contents of that file, named UPDATE.APP. Needless to say it doesn't work. A menu appears with the options reboot system now, apply update from sdcard, apply update from cache, wipe/data factory reset, wipe cache partition and calibrate touch screen. Trying to apply update from sdcard only lets me browse the SD looking for the file but doesn't actually see the file itself, it just shows the dload folder empty (I've tried with 4 different versions of the file compatible with phones from Central America which is where I am ATM). Also, the factory reset does nothing (although it shows it wipes data), everything's there when I start the phone up.
- flashing it with SD Flash Tool: apparently partially works with the last version 3 of the tool (although nothing changes) while version 5 of SDFT doesn't even see the phone (drivers are correctly installed, adb detects it, more on this later). A problem that arises is that I can't flash the SEC_RO package on it (don't know why) nor the PRELOADER (not that one is supposed to normally, but I feel like it would fix my problem in this case).
- cleaning it in safe mode: booting it in safe mode made me notice that it was an app pretending to be Whatsapp causing the restarts (or, perhaps, the one that loads immediately after? The phone has several malware apps). In safe mode those apps didn't load so the phone stayed on. So I cleaned everything, activated USB debugging (for later use in adb mode) and restarted only to find everything as it was before I did the cleanup. I tried rooting it in safemode, cleaning again, still reverts to full "normality" after the restart. Same results when using the phone's proprietary SW HiSuite.
- installing CWM's recovery img through adb+fastboot: I installed all the possible - necessary or unnecessary - drivers (Google's, phone's official ones, PDANet ones) and the phone is correctly detected by the PC (visible in Device Manager) and is visible through the adb devices command. But as soon as I adb reboot bootloader it to fastload the CWM image, the phone stops being seen correctly and doesn't show up in fastboot devices, only showing "NEW: SAFE OLD:RISK" on a black background on its screen.
So, to recap: the phone restarts because of a malware at startup, reverts any and all changes made to it in safemode, doesn't wipe from the recovery menu, apparently has a corrupted bootloader and is impervious to normal flashing SW... Anyone got any more ideas on how to deal with it? The only option left that comes to mind is to fix it directly by flashing the internal memory using JTAG/RIFF but I don't have the equipment (nor do I intend to buy it).
Bump, hoping for some help...
One more bump, still stuck
First, don't get happy: I have no answer to your problem. Sorry. But I have a similar one. I was running a very efficient, rooted, stock ROM G730-U251, until I decided to switch from 'Ninjamorph Free' to 'Pro'. I've been made a lot of changes with Free version for a long time without any issues at all. Then, one day, when making a small, useless change with 'Pro', something went wrong; phone just rebooted and refused to get past bootanimation. With no custom recovery on hand, only solution for this is to flash ROM. Though I had no problem finding the official, stock UPDATE.APP, which flashed smoothly from the SD card to be fair. Mess came when, once flashed, I decided to install OTA update available, which I overlooked since phone was new. Big, BIG mistake. It just came with more restrictions than ever, letting me root, yes, but this time with 'Kingroot' only (as stock, I had no problem rooting with Framaroot) but soon discovered I wasn't able to use 'Super-Sume', 'Adaway' and 'Link2SD', because some system parts now CAN'T be mounted rw, even using ES File Explorer. To avoid any complication, decided to reflash UPDATE.APP just as I did before. No way I can do it this time. Don't know exactly why, but assuming it's not possible to update with a previous version of the 'same' ROM. So now I'm looking for a flashable stock ROM in order to try SP flash tool. Phone is in working state right now (not as yours), but I just don't feel comfortable with it as it is right now, because those apps are always the main reason why I actually root every single of my devices and simply because I like to have my stuff as my own way as possible. You know, truth is there's not much of an advanced support for this phone, not even here at XDA and I think that's because this is a Latin America version. We owners of G730-U251 devices are pretty much on our own, to say the least. Whatever, if the whole deal gets more complicated than it is, there's a strong possibility for me to end up getting rid of this phone. Sad. Really. It's actually a good phone. Though it WAS better...