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Root Is s-off required?

K

kanezfan

Well-Known Member
I followed this guide How to Root HTC Evo 4G LTE! [Unlock Bootloader][TWRP Recovery] | HTC Evo 4G Hacks! and got it all done and correct. I want to install CM 10.1 though and while I can do everything in TWRP, format, clear cache, dalvik cache, and install CM 10.1 and Gapps, when the phone reboots, I get the HTC splash screen but then I get a blank screen. I waited about 10 minutes and still nothing so I'm stuck going back to TWRP and restoring from back up. From what I've been reading now, it seems like I have to use dirtyracun to get s-off before I can install CM 10.1 but that guide made it seem like you don't need s-off so I'm confused. dirtyracun seems like a pain in the ass to get going too... really wish it wasn't required.

Do I have to s-off to install cm 10.1?
 
did you remember to flash the boot.img for cm to the phone? My understanding is that if you're s-on, you have to do that using fastboot to get cm to boot.
 
I didn't read about that anywhere. How would I do that? Is that boot.img inside the CM file somewhere?

Thanks
 
I have never flashed a ROM that I need the boot image for, but this page has a little more information about it...Install CM for jewel - CyanogenMod see towards the bottom. I think you can do it either with fastboot or from TWRP, but I would wait till someone that knows more replies to this thread as well.
 
Download the komodo kernel. Place it on the sd card if your phone. Boot into recovery. Flash it from there.

I think that was how I did it before s-off.
 
kanezfan said:
I followed this guide How to Root HTC Evo 4G LTE! [Unlock Bootloader][TWRP Recovery] | HTC Evo 4G Hacks! and got it all done and correct. I want to install CM 10.1 though and while I can do everything in TWRP, format, clear cache, dalvik cache, and install CM 10.1 and Gapps, when the phone reboots, I get the HTC splash screen but then I get a blank screen. I waited about 10 minutes and still nothing so I'm stuck going back to TWRP and restoring from back up. From what I've been reading now, it seems like I have to use dirtyracun to get s-off before I can install CM 10.1 but that guide made it seem like you don't need s-off so I'm confused. dirtyracun seems like a pain in the ass to get going too... really wish it wasn't required.

Do I have to s-off to install cm 10.1?
Click to expand...
ok so this is the difference with being unlocked with s-on vs s-off.

with s-on you can't flash the boot.img file like those with s-off. the boot.img is where the kernel lies. basically when you flash roms with s-on the previous rom's boot.img does not get wiped and changed to the new rom's boot.img. this is fine for going from a sense rom to another. it is not fine when going from sense to aosp or vice versa.

so an example lets say i'm on stock sense and i want to go to cm10 like you want. with s-on when i flash cm10 the stock boot.img will still be there and cm10 will have issues with the sense kernel that is located within the boot.img.

however if i was to pull(extract) the boot.img from the cm10 zip file, boot the phone into fastboot, and then enter this command:
Code: 
fastboot flash boot boot.img

then the kernel that comes with cm10 will get flashed and your phone should work with cm10.

here is a great write up by rxpert:
http://androidforums.com/evo-4g-lte-all-things-root/606748-how-install-kernels-s-h-boot-1-15-a.html

now most roms these days have a cool tweak called the kernel installer. this installs the boot.img for you so you do not have to extract it and fastboot flash it. i'm not sure if cm10 has it or not.

i hope this helps.
 
Thank you for the great info. I have another question hahaha. I made a back-up of the rom that came with the phone (sense) and with TWRP I can restore it. Now if I go and flash the boot.img from CM 10.1 on the phone and for whatever reason I want to go back to sense, will I need to flash boot.img from sense too or can I use TWRP and restore it the same way?

Thanks again, I'm glad I can do this another way because gaining s-off looks like a gigantic pain.
 
kanezfan said:
Thank you for the great info. I have another question hahaha. I made a back-up of the rom that came with the phone (sense) and with TWRP I can restore it. Now if I go and flash the boot.img from CM 10.1 on the phone and for whatever reason I want to go back to sense, will I need to flash boot.img from sense too or can I use TWRP and restore it the same way?
Click to expand...

Seconded this question. It's something I'd like to know as well
 
GuitarG20 said:
Seconded this question. It's something I'd like to know as well
Click to expand...


To do that you'll: restore nandroid, wipe cache and dalvik cache, boot into bootloader (it won't boot the ROM at this point), flash the boot.img, wipe cache and dalvik cache in recovery again (this step is optional) and reboot.
 
kanezfan said:
Thank you for the great info. I have another question hahaha. I made a back-up of the rom that came with the phone (sense) and with TWRP I can restore it. Now if I go and flash the boot.img from CM 10.1 on the phone and for whatever reason I want to go back to sense, will I need to flash boot.img from sense too or can I use TWRP and restore it the same way?

Thanks again, I'm glad I can do this another way because gaining s-off looks like a gigantic pain.
Click to expand...

well for me unless the kernel installer is cooked into a rom, doing this over and over again is more of a pain. plus with s-on you can't update your radios easily. it is better to bear the pain of getting s-off because everything becomes so much easier afterwards that it is worth it......but that is me and not you;)

yes you will need to do the same thing unless you flash a rom that has the kernel installer cooked in. or like windsoclarenc mentioned you can just nandroid back, but either way you will need to fastboot flash the boot.img of the sense rom.

edit:just remember that with s-on the boot.img will never change unless you fastboot flash the new boot.img. you will always have to do it, unless the kernel installer is used.
 
ok one more question, in case I need to go back to the original sense rom on the phone right now, where do i get the boot.img that the phone boots off of right now? i'm looking online for a stock rom but not having much luck. I looked in the two backups I have but didn't find a boot.img there.
 
kanezfan said:
ok one more question, in case I need to go back to the original sense rom on the phone right now, where do i get the boot.img that the phone boots off of right now? i'm looking online for a stock rom but not having much luck. I looked in the two backups I have but didn't find a boot.img there.
Click to expand...

You call pull the boot.img out of pretty much any current sense based rom and use it. Just try and make sure its from the same ota update. An old rom boot.img won't work correctly.
 
How do I pull it? I agree with you, I'd rather pull the exact one I'm using now so there's no conflict should I want to go back to sense, but how do I do that? Sorry I know this is a basic question.
 
kanezfan said:
How do I pull it? I agree with you, I'd rather pull the exact one I'm using now so there's no conflict should I want to go back to sense, but how do I do that? Sorry I know this is a basic question.
Click to expand...

You can either download a sense based rom and unzip it and take the boot.img out of the folder, or you could probably do it using a command line and your phone hooked up to the computer.

Taking it out of the folder is the way I do it. Theres step by step instructions in the link ocn provided. I used cm10 in the pictures but you could do it just the same with a stock rom
 
I'm not sure you understand what I'm asking. I want the boot.img that is on my phone right now, the one that the stock sense ROM is using to boot up. I want to keep it in a folder somewhere on my PC in case I ever want to go back to the stock sense ROM. How do I pull that off my phone? I looked on that linked page but didn't find how to do it. I'm assuming I do it in fastboot or maybe even with TWRP, but I don't know.

Thanks :)
 
kanezfan said:
I'm not sure you understand what I'm asking. I want the boot.img that is on my phone right now, the one that the stock sense ROM is using to boot up. I want to keep it in a folder somewhere on my PC in case I ever want to go back to the stock sense ROM. How do I pull that off my phone? I looked on that linked page but didn't find how to do it. I'm assuming I do it in fastboot or maybe even with TWRP, but I don't know.

Thanks :)
Click to expand...

You can probably pull the one from the stock ROM with the phone in fastboot with command similar to adb pull boot.img, but I don't know that for sure.


What I'm saying is, you can just download the stock ROM for the phone and take it out of there. Its gonna be exactly the same thing

Stock ROM:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2127947
 
Ok I ended up doing what you said, it worked. Now I have a new problem though, I tried cm10.1 and aokp but same problem on both, the touchscreen doesn't work. The only buttons that work are volume and power buttons. How does that get fixed?
 
kanezfan said:
Ok I ended up doing what you said, it worked. Now I have a new problem though, I tried cm10.1 and aokp but same problem on both, the touchscreen doesn't work. The only buttons that work are volume and power buttons. How does that get fixed?
Click to expand...

oh yes are you s-on, correct? what is your hboot and baseband?

the latest ota came with a bunch of new firmwares like a new touchpanel. if you are s-on and unlocked then you will have to wait to flash aosp roms as they do not have support for the new touch panel yet. you will have to stick with sense based roms as they have support for it.

here is a guide about firmware and checkout captain throwback's comments about the latest ota and the new touch panel issues for more details.

edit: sorry i almost forgot about the touch panel issue with the latest ota. it is why you should never accept an ota if you are thinking about rooting the phone.
 
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