I don't know what I'm doing! After reading a bunch of threads and the giant clusters of information in the n00b sticky and the pudding thread I've confused myself more than when I started.
I have android 2.3.4, v4.5.91 and I don't really care about the bootloader unlock yet and I do want to protect my warranty and be able to unroot it (and in the case of a bootloader unlock I haven't seen a way to undo that)
Oh and CWM.
What order do I do all this in so that I can return it fully to stock the easiest way possible (I'm still not certain I want to keep the phone)
The tutorials are excellent resource banks, but only if you know exactly what you are looking for, as they all cover so many things at once with a lot of DO NOT sections which make me worry XD
Related
I'm 99.9% sold on the Amaze, I will probably be ordering this weekend.
One niggling doubt is the s-off issue. I see that it hasn't been achieved yet, though you can unlock the bootloader via the HTC.com dev code, and that allows perma-rooting and Custom Roms to be installed.
My questions are:
What would S-off achieve? Would there be more impressive roms that use the space and/or resources from /system or somewhere else that can't be touched without S-off? Is a CM 9 possible for the Amaze without S-off? In the CM forums, the "last" word so far is that it hasn't been included on the official list because "it doesn't even have S-off yet".
Is there a difference warranty-wise? I understand the _possible_ implication of asking HTC for the code, they have you in some database that says you unlocked the bootloader. But as for the device itself, is one undoable and the other not?
I understand that flashing kernels would be harder without s-off because it would have to be done via adb, I think I understood. This is no big deal in itself.
Finally: if you unlock the bootloader via the HTC code, and weeks or months down the road an exploit is found to gain S-Off, are you hosed because you used the code and didn't wait?
I'd like to know so I can make my decision before getting the phone. If it's very disadvantageous to use the code rather than wait for S-off, for one reason or another, then I'd have to decide if I can live with only temp-rooting the device.
I am not going to use it on T-Mobile, I'm in Venezuela and will use it with my carrier here, so the unnecessary bloat will be even more of an annoyance, because on top of it sucking, it won't even work; so it would be important for me to at least root to get rid of it.
I'm sorry if my questions are too expansive, I picked up bits and pieces of information in other posts, but none of them answered these questions clearly. Thank you very much to all those who can help me answer them.
el_ochito said:
I'm 99.9% sold on the Amaze, I will probably be ordering this weekend.
One niggling doubt is the s-off issue. I see that it hasn't been achieved yet, though you can unlock the bootloader via the HTC.com dev code, and that allows perma-rooting and Custom Roms to be installed.
My questions are:
What would S-off achieve? Would there be more impressive roms that use the space and/or resources from /system or somewhere else that can't be touched without S-off? Is a CM 9 possible for the Amaze without S-off? In the CM forums, the "last" word so far is that it hasn't been included on the official list because "it doesn't even have S-off yet".
Is there a difference warranty-wise? I understand the _possible_ implication of asking HTC for the code, they have you in some database that says you unlocked the bootloader. But as for the device itself, is one undoable and the other not?
I understand that flashing kernels would be harder without s-off because it would have to be done via adb, I think I understood. This is no big deal in itself.
Finally: if you unlock the bootloader via the HTC code, and weeks or months down the road an exploit is found to gain S-Off, are you hosed because you used the code and didn't wait?
I'd like to know so I can make my decision before getting the phone. If it's very disadvantageous to use the code rather than wait for S-off, for one reason or another, then I'd have to decide if I can live with only temp-rooting the device.
I am not going to use it on T-Mobile, I'm in Venezuela and will use it with my carrier here, so the unnecessary bloat will be even more of an annoyance, because on top of it sucking, it won't even work; so it would be important for me to at least root to get rid of it.
I'm sorry if my questions are too expansive, I picked up bits and pieces of information in other posts, but none of them answered these questions clearly. Thank you very much to all those who can help me answer them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know where to start with all of your questions but I will do my best.
The difference between S-OFF and Unlocked bootloader is that with S-OFF you can flash anything including a radio and supposedly it would give us the ability to update the kernel by recovery. With an unlocked bootloader we cannot update the radio or kernel but can pretty much change everything else. An unlocked bootloader is required to root your device and remove all the bloat that you don't like. You can temp root the device to remove that bloatware however they will re-appear after a reboot. It has been under some debate if in fact using the unlock_code.bin file provided by htcdev is going to void your warranty if your device would require servicing. If it's vital to know that information then call HTC to inquire before unlocking.
Regarding CM9, it is possible but slightly inconvenient since CM9 would almost certainly require a different kernel and since we cannot flash kernels by recovery it would have to be done in a very certain order. Is it currently in the works? To my understanding, yes! Any idea when you can see it as a download here in the forums? Not at this time. Check back daily because things change frequently!
Thanks a lot for your response, Binary. I see you have an Amaze and have indeed unlocked its bootloader, so I guess the real question would be: when and if s-off is achieved, will you be able to do it even though you've already unlocked the bootloader with the .bin file?
Warranty would be terribly hard for me to take advantage of anyways after the initial check. If I don't RMA the unit, then I'm pretty much gambling on the fact that it will work well no matter what, since sending it back to the US from Venezuela would be a major PITA, so I don't really care much about voiding it.
el_ochito said:
Thanks a lot for your response, Binary. I see you have an Amaze and have indeed unlocked its bootloader, so I guess the real question would be: when and if s-off is achieved, will you be able to do it even though you've already unlocked the bootloader with the .bin file?
Warranty would be terribly hard for me to take advantage of anyways after the initial check. If I don't RMA the unit, then I'm pretty much gambling on the fact that it will work well no matter what, since sending it back to the US from Venezuela would be a major PITA, so I don't really care much about voiding it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no reason that having an unlocked bootloader will interfere with being able to obtain s-off in the future because we can always relock the bootloader when (or if) it comes down to it.
Binary100100 said:
I don't know where to start with all of your questions but I will do my best.
The difference between S-OFF and Unlocked bootloader is that with S-OFF you can flash anything including a radio and supposedly it would give us the ability to update the kernel by recovery. With an unlocked bootloader we cannot update the radio or kernel but can pretty much change everything else. An unlocked bootloader is required to root your device and remove all the bloat that you don't like. You can temp root the device to remove that bloatware however they will re-appear after a reboot. It has been under some debate if in fact using the unlock_code.bin file provided by htcdev is going to void your warranty if your device would require servicing. If it's vital to know that information then call HTC to inquire before unlocking.
Regarding CM9, it is possible but slightly inconvenient since CM9 would almost certainly require a different kernel and since we cannot flash kernels by recovery it would have to be done in a very certain order. Is it currently in the works? To my understanding, yes! Any idea when you can see it as a download here in the forums? Not at this time. Check back daily because things change frequently!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your words helped me a lot. I was thinking about the diff between s-on/off and lock.unlock bootloader for long. Thanks so much
Ok everyone. I like to think I am efficient enough to figure things out and such but I will honestly say I am having a major n00b moment with this one.
In the past, with my older Android phones (Droid 1 and Droid Razr) I was able to root and unroot the phones by following the instructions and ensure if I ever returned my device to Verizon, it gets unrooted and such.
however, now that I have the HTC Rezound from Verizon, I feel pretty stupid when it comes to the instructions I've found.
I gotten as far as unlocking the bootloader which appeared to be fairly simple, but there are just so many instructions out there on how to root the phone I cant make heads over heals on what to do.
Essentially I just want to be able to root and unroot the phone in the event I ever were to return it to Verizon for replacement. Can someone direct me to the proper way in doing this? I'd truly appreciate the help. Thank you all
storo1975 said:
Ok everyone. I like to think I am efficient enough to figure things out and such but I will honestly say I am having a major n00b moment with this one.
In the past, with my older Android phones (Droid 1 and Droid Razr) I was able to root and unroot the phones by following the instructions and ensure if I ever returned my device to Verizon, it gets unrooted and such.
however, now that I have the HTC Rezound from Verizon, I feel pretty stupid when it comes to the instructions I've found.
I gotten as far as unlocking the bootloader which appeared to be fairly simple, but there are just so many instructions out there on how to root the phone I cant make heads over heals on what to do.
Essentially I just want to be able to root and unroot the phone in the event I ever were to return it to Verizon for replacement. Can someone direct me to the proper way in doing this? I'd truly appreciate the help. Thank you all
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once you have unlocked the bootloader or gotten s-off, you just need to flash a recovery (Amon ra is linked in my sig) then flash a rom. All of the ROMS are pre-rooted. To revert to uprooted, all you need to do is run the GB RUU which can be found in the development section (or google)
AshtonTS said:
Once you have unlocked the bootloader or gotten s-off, you just need to flash a recovery (Amon ra is linked in my sig) then flash a rom. All of the ROMS are pre-rooted. To revert to uprooted, all you need to do is run the GB RUU which can be found in the development section (or google)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
am not sure if i ever had the change to thank you but thank you!
Pretty much the title sums it up
This is nothing related to unlimited i.o. guys at all first and foremost
If you are willing to risk potentially bricking your inc 4g, in an attempt for either tricking htc dev unlock to accept the inc 4g, or s-off, then please pm me.
Requirements:
willing to have a completely unrecoverable inc 4g that you wont try insurance fraud on to recover
proficient with adb/fastboot commands
completely locked and unrooted
this is not me attempting this by the way (the unlock) :silly:
Thanks for this man, I really don't want to see this phone die. It deserves so much more.
I pmed you nits but I don't think he's on. I'm on a 96 till Wednesday so I can try stuff out. I don't really care if I brick this I just need help with adb stuff
Linch89 said:
I pmed you nits but I don't think he's on. I'm on a 96 till Wednesday so I can try stuff out. I don't really care if I brick this I just need help with adb stuff
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this should help http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/what-is-adb-and-how-to-install-it-android/
nitsuj17 said:
Pretty much the title sums it up
This is nothing related to unlimited i.o. guys at all first and foremost
If you are willing to risk potentially bricking your inc 4g, in an attempt for either tricking htc dev unlock to accept the inc 4g, or s-off, then please pm me.
Requirements:
willing to have a completely unrecoverable inc 4g that you wont try insurance fraud on to recover
proficient with adb/fastboot commands
completely locked and unrooted
this is not me attempting this by the way (the unlock) :silly:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK so I'm a pretty good candidate for this:
I have a DINC4G. I don't have phone insurance so won't try to get a replacement. I am very comfortable on the command-line, and have adb working and am familiar with fastboot basics. I am a software dev with RHEL and Ubuntu server admin background. I have a completely locked and unrooted phone. I'm just a bit scared of having a paperweight, though.
I REALLY want to learn more about this, but I'm also a cautious person (having maintained production servers for years). I would like to help, but first need some more understanding of what it is we'll be doing. I'm assuming we'd be changing the bootloader partition, maybe changing a hex value or a few, to turn off security to gain s-off or possibly fake HTCDev unlock.
I've already temprooted and tried remount rw and the symlink/debugfs trick. Personally I'd prefer to continue attempting root via the OS or maybe flashing a custom recovery. Any changes we would make to /system or the recovery partition can be reverted via RUU... way safer IMHO. However, I'm thinking NAND lock is gonna mean our only chance is altering the bootloader (dev unlock or s-off) to gain NAND write.
So, I would like to help, though cautiously. I'd like to perform any changes myself, and might be hesitant about some of them once we delve into the bootloader side of things. I'm totally willing to attempt to exploit the system or recovery partition though. Let me know and we can proceed (with caution).
Ok so I am aware of the thread that was created awhile back on using RUU to return to stock, but that didn't quite answer my questions so I am asking this question here and hopefully others in the future will benefit.
I am in need of getting my phone back to factory shipped conditions to get it replaced by Verizon. My headphone jack does not work at all and I just started getting sim card errors which I cannot deal with. So I need to fix this ASAP. The problem I forsee is that since I used Super CID to unlock the phone it has the red text error on bootup that says "this build is for development purposes.....blah blah" I imagine that Verizon will see this and tell me I voided my warranty and it is not their problem anymore. Here are my questions.
1. If I use RUU will it remove this message from the startup splash screen?
2. I am S-off, do I need to be s-on before I do this or will RUU put me S-on
3. People were saying it says "relocked" instead of "locked" on the bootloader screen. Is this going to be a problem as well?
4. Will I be able to get unlock, root, and s-off on the replacement phone?
I am going to continue searching the forums in case the answer is out there spread throughout many posts, but if anyone knows the answer or can help I would greatly appreciate it. Knowing the answer to this will be very helpful to many people I suspect.
Original return to stock thread
Imacellist said:
Ok so I am aware of the thread that was created awhile back on using RUU to return to stock, but that didn't quite answer my questions so I am asking this question here and hopefully others in the future will benefit.
I am in need of getting my phone back to factory shipped conditions to get it replaced by Verizon. My headphone jack does not work at all and I just started getting sim card errors which I cannot deal with. So I need to fix this ASAP. The problem I forsee is that since I used Super CID to unlock the phone it has the red text error on bootup that says "this build is for development purposes.....blah blah" I imagine that Verizon will see this and tell me I voided my warranty and it is not their problem anymore. Here are my questions.
1. If I use RUU will it remove this message from the startup splash screen?
2. I am S-off, do I need to be s-on before I do this or will RUU put me S-on
3. People were saying it says "relocked" instead of "locked" on the bootloader screen. Is this going to be a problem as well?
4. Will I be able to get unlock, root, and s-off on the replacement phone?
I am going to continue searching the forums in case the answer is out there spread throughout many posts, but if anyone knows the answer or can help I would greatly appreciate it. Knowing the answer to this will be very helpful to many people I suspect.
Original return to stock thread
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Compliments of Phaded...well for combining everything in a great easy how to and the Scotty guy who originally posted it somewhere...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2293919
bakemcbride21 said:
Compliments of Phaded...well for combining everything in a great easy how to and the Scotty guy who originally posted it somewhere...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2293919
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Beautiful. This is why I love the android community. So willing to help others. Thank you very much.
And to answer your last question, yes, you will be able to S-Off and Unlock your replacement phone.
There are 2 new methods available as of last week for 2.06 (latest firmware).
I have not followed the "rooting without BL unlock" dramas of the Z-Series unfold since my Z1C was unlocked...
I just vaguely recall that sometimes a rooting method was found by some dev, but it required very specifically Version xyz and of course many had already upgraded via OTA.
So do you run the OTAs on your phones? Hoping that downgrading will be possible? Or is the risk I perceive, i.e. putting in OTAs as they roll out and then removing yourself from those able to do whatever procedure might pop in the future real?
I am kinda torn on this... I am not in extreme need of root, but when / if a solution is found that keeps the DRM intact or allows TA backup beforehand I will certainly use the opportunity.