[HOWTO][GUIDE] Root & Backup of almost EVERY mt65xx based Device - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

THIS WILL ONLY WORK WITH DEVICES USING EMMC PARTITION LAYOUT!
otherwise flashtool cannot properly readback needed files wich will cause a bricked device. for rooting mt6573 or mt6575 without emmc partition layout,
refere to this method by rua1: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=38337401&postcount=5
You need to upload the needed files to your Computer using the Read Page Only feature.
ALSO, MAKE SURE YOUR DON'T TRY THAT ON AN ALCATEL (OR SIMILAR) DEVICE, INDICATOR HERE IS A CUSTPACK PARTITION IN SCATTERFILE.
those devices have mt65xx, but have a totally different partition strukture. You can try this tutorial, BUT IF YOU BRICK YOUR DEVICE; I CANNOT HELP YOU OUT!!!
since a lot of devices have different hardware - e.g. Display or Camera - making a Backup of your device should have highest priority. Flashing a wrong ROM can brick your phone!!
What is needed:
VCOM Driver, thx to n2k1
ADB, thx to n2k1
MTK Droid Tools V2.46
If you wan't to use the newest Versionof MTK Droid Tools, refere to here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=38337401#post38337401
also, you can buy Master Shifu rua1 a coffee for his great tool!
Support for the newest Version of Droid Tools is NOT given in this thread! I personally don't use his tool so if something unexpected happens, its not my fault.
SP Flashtool V3.1224 for mt6589, newer flashtool is needed!!! if there are some problems with reading back or flashing the device, newer flashtool is needed.
Install the needed drivers. installing VCOM drivers might take a while, because it will show up just a few seconds while connecting the phone(off).
and now the Step-by-Step tutorial to backup your boot.img, recovery.img and system.img for rooting.
1. enable USB-debugging under Settings-Development->USB debugging
2. phone should now get recognized as "Android Phone - Android Composite ADB Interface" -> if this is a Unknown Device, you should install the ADB drivers.
3.Open MTK Droid Tools
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4. Connect device to USB (USB Debugging has to be enabled)
5. Device informations has been loaded, Press on "Blocks Map"
We'll need to find the lines bootimg, recovery and Android. We'll need to write down Start-adress(Scatter) and the Size for every line.
(i made a screenshot, writing down isn't necessary.)
In MY Case, this is:
bootimg: 00F88000 size: 00600000
recovery: 01588000 size: 00600000
Android: 026E8000 size: 31900000
6. Now we'll need to click on "Create Scatter File" and you can save it as "MT6577_Android_scatter_emmc.txt"
7. You can Close MTK Droid Tools now.
8. Now we need to open SP Flash Tool and we need to load the scatter file.
9. Now we'll need to click on "Read Back" in the top of SP Flash Tool.
Click on "ADD" 3 Times, we will create "ROM_0", "ROM_1" and "ROM_2".
10. Doubleclick on "ROM_0", and select a place to save it, e.g. C:/N9770_backup/ and rename it to"boot.img"
11. now it will ask you for the Start Adress and lengh for bootimg, we wrote down earlier.
this is in my case: Start Address: 0x00F88000; Lenght: 0x00600000. the first "0x" MUST remain at its place!
12. the same thing you'll need to do for "recovery" and "android".
13. disconnect, shut down and remove the battery of your Device.
13. Now we'll need to click on "Read Back", insert your battery and connect your device to USB. (VCOM driver is needed now, you'll need to install it before getting to the next steps)
14. if this were correct, a red bar should appear on the bottom of SP Flash Tool. you'll need to wait until the green ring appears.
15.Flash Tool now read back the 3 files. system.img isn't that important, but boot.img and recovery.img should be around 6 MB. if the file is smaller or bigger, the length is different to my device or there was a failure while reading back your firmware. So make sure, that at least recovery or boot.img has the right size!!
16. Back to droid tools. reconnect your device to USB , debugging should be enabled, too. switch to "root, backup, recovery" tab in MTK Droid Tools.
select "to choose the boot.img" and press on "Recovery and boot". select your backup boot.img and recovery,img. MTK droid tools will patch boot.img, so you obtain permanent shellroot.
(optional) a window will pop-up and ask you, if you want to install CWM-r. i cannot tell you if that will work, but you can try it, since you backed up your recovery before. )
(optional) a window will pop-up and ask you for the name of your device(you connected it before starting droidtools, so this should not ask you for the name). you can just press enter or you can enter a name for your device.
17. Droid Tools should have modified the boot.img. "--a task is complete--" text should show up in the right of droidtools.
18. Back to Flashtool
You'll need to load the Scatter (like in Step 8)
select boot.img and recovery.img. make sure you select the modified files. (.../Droidtools/recovery/boot.img and recovery.img)
only boot and recovery should be selected!!
19.disconnect, shout down and remove the battery of your device. press on "Download", a window will show up that you have not selected all images. you can press on "OK".
20. insert the battery and connect your device to USB. Flash process should start and if it worked, green ring will appear.
21. Back to DroidTools. device needs to be connected and debugging enabled. switch to "root, backup, recovery" again and press on "SuperUser". this will push superuser, SU binary and busybox to your device.
22. Your Device is rooted now. you can make a Full backup with Droid Tools now.
thx to n2k1 and tommy0815 for the needed files and the original tutorial!!
if i helped you, don't forget to press on "thanks"

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reserved for future updates

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Testing on my Acer Z120 MT6575 base, I hope this will work, feedback later *fingers crossed*
FEEDBACK:
It totally worked, My Acer z120 is now rooted.
(optional) a window will pop-up and ask you, if you want to install CWM-r. i cannot tell you if that will work, but you can try it, since you backed up your recovery before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do not use CWM, it will cause your phone not to boot properly, that is my experience on my phone.
Thanks!

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yeah never tested it though, thx for the reply!

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Re: [HOWTO][GUIDE] Root & Backup of almost EVERY MT65xx based Device
is there anyone here who tried to follow this thread and successfully rooted his android phone?lenovo s720 user here.waiting for more positive feedbacks.

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Will this method work on a Vodafone Smart III (975N) probably with 6575?

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Guys, this will work on every mt65xx device, if you installed all drivers sucessfully .this whole thing basically changes a value in Boot.IMG To obtain permanent root in the shell. This is the same on EVERY mt65xx based smartphone. Basically you are rooted now. Just needs To push busybox, su and superuser To your device. Thos whole thing seems complex, but you make a backup oft your modified files before modifiing. I never Had device this tutorial was not working every mt6575, 6577 and 6589 should work without an problem. Mt6573 can be a Problem because oft their YAFFS partition strukture.

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Chrizzly92 said:
Guys, this will work on every device, if you installed all drivers sucessfully .this whole thing basically changes a value in Boot.IMG To obtain permanent root in the shell. This is the same on EVERY mt65xx based smartphone. Basically you are rooted now. Just needs To push busybox, su and superuser To your device. Thos whole thing seems complex, but you make a backup oft your modified files before modifiing. I never Had device this tutorial was not working every mt6575, 6577 and 6589 should work without an problem. Mt6573 can be a Problem because oft their YAFFS partition strukture.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I will try!
Sent from my Samsung I9300 with tapatalk4

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thank you for this :thumbup:
Sent from my PICOpad GEW using xda app-developers app

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dbius said:
Will this method work on a Vodafone Smart III (975N) probably with 6575?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, i rooted my vodafone 975N with this method (CWM recovery working) :good:

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Gynekolog said:
Yes, i rooted my vodafone 975N with this method :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
:good: That sounds great! Thx man for the informations!
Edit:
Now i tried to root the phone. Everything is went fine till phase nr.19. At this point when the flashtool tried to write back the modified boot.img and recovery.img it gave back me the attached error window.
What should be the problem? I went through the steps with doublecheck and everything was fine till that point. I tried this step two or three times more, but every time gave me this error message.
What should I do now? If it helps I can upload the log folder content here.

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Make sure the scatterfile is correct and the files should not be bigger than 6 MB. Flash tool tells you that you need to flash a full image cause the scatter is different from you phone.
Sent from my Star N9770 using xda app-developers app

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Chrizzly92 said:
Make sure the scatterfile is correct and the files should not be bigger than 6 MB. Flash tool tells you that you need to flash a full image cause the scatter is different from you phone.
Sent from my Star N9770 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
!EDIT!
Thanks for your answer!
Tonight I found a newer version for flash tool (v3.1304.0.119). Using that version rooting the phone was successful, so thanks, finally it worked.

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VCOM Ports
Gynekolog said:
Yes, i rooted my vodafone 975N with this method :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I still cant root my device. I think its the VCOM ports, because i cant flash
When i click "Read Back" the device is not there..
Can you help me?
Thanks!

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This will be very helpful. I have a china phone running on MT6577. I've successfully installed a ported V970 ROM to ZA-985 (which is compatible to my unit in terms of hardware and appearance). I wanna try porting a JB V970 Lewa OS ROM to Kata i1 (identical to ZA-985).

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dbius said:
!EDIT!
Thanks for your answer!
Tonight I found a newer version for flash tool (v3.1304.0.119). Using that version rooting the phone was successful, so thanks, finally it worked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thx for your reply, i updated Post #1 , that for mt6589 newer flashtool is required nad sumtimes youll need to play with them. this is because the widely spread devices, they are not the same and sometimes big differences in partitionlayout, SoC revision and so on.
@verntechguy: after rooting, make sure you get a full backup of your device using mtk droid tools. porting lewa is not that hard, but you maybe need to try different platforms to port from. you can refere to here, master shifu yuweng made a pretty good tutorial abut porting Roms.
@Beirajunior: is your device recognized as "mt65xx preloader" when connection to USB? (phone should be off) if not, you can try pressing VOL Up or down while connecting to USB. for flashing, VCOM port 1-16 should be assigned to the drivers.
6

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Chrizzly92 said:
thx for your reply, i updated Post #1 , that for mt6589 newer flashtool is required nad sumtimes youll need to play with them. this is because the widely spread devices, they are not the same and sometimes big differences in partitionlayout, SoC revision and so on.
@verntechguy: after rooting, make sure you get a full backup of your device using mtk droid tools. porting lewa is not that hard, but you maybe need to try different platforms to port from. you can refere to here, master shifu yuweng made a pretty good tutorial abut porting Roms.
@Beirajunior: is your device recognized as "mt65xx preloader" when connection to USB? (phone should be off) if not, you can try pressing VOL Up or down while connecting to USB. for flashing, VCOM port 1-16 should be assigned to the drivers.
6
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you help me by team viewer ? :x i still cant do the flash..and the phone is reconized as "mt65xx preloader" but after a while he disconect.
My email is: [email protected]
I appreciate any help.
Cheers

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no, i cannot help you via teamviewer, my internet connection is too slow, cause i`m on tethering. some additional infos will be helpfull. device? mt6573,75,77,89?
if the device gets found, everything should work. you`ll need to assing the VCOM ports. just look in the driver settings or google it. i`m sure there is some kind of tutorial for it. also, trying another PC or OS will help, too. alot of guys have problems with that, just switching to XP or so will mostly help without tweaking the drivers.
device should be disconnected and battery should not be inserted. now press readback in flashtool, insert battery and connect the device to USB. now phone should be found by flashtool. if not, like i said, check VCOM ports.

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Chrizzly92 said:
no, i cannot help you via teamviewer, my internet connection is too slow, cause i`m on tethering. some additional infos will be helpfull. device? mt6573,75,77,89?
if the device gets found, everything should work. you`ll need to assing the VCOM ports. just look in the driver settings or google it. i`m sure there is some kind of tutorial for it. also, trying another PC or OS will help, too. alot of guys have problems with that, just switching to XP or so will mostly help without tweaking the drivers.
device should be disconnected and battery should not be inserted. now press readback in flashtool, insert battery and connect the device to USB. now phone should be found by flashtool. if not, like i said, check VCOM ports.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Im already done, but im receiving this error when i try to modified the backuped files (boot and recovery) on MTK Droid Root.I sai no to similar CWM, and i get this error:
"--- ERROR :Boot unthe public mailing list [email protected]"
" --- task is complete ---"
What do you suggest ?
Cheers!

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what SoC? mt6573?