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Root Access recovery with PG86IMG on SD and no computer

MtnDew31693

Member
All right, so today my phone ran out of juice and decided not to start back up when I plugged it in and just sat on the CM boot animation for 20 minutes. It does this periodically so I decided why not download the latest CM10.1 update and just factory reset and flash that. So that's what I did, downloaded the March 22nd update for CM10.1, loaded it onto my card and flashed away. But before it finished flashing I left my house to go on a trip with my girlfriend. For some reason it still got stuck on the boot animation. Unfortunately for me, I had loaded a PG86IMG.zip onto the root of my SD card the night before. So without a computer and the bootloader wanting to update every time, there was no way I could get into recovery and reflash CM10.1. However....

I'm sure someone has discovered this before, but I figured may as well write it out. If you pull the back up the battery (the side with the little tab) up and (if you're looking at the back of the phone) tilt it slightly to the right, you can keep the battery pins in contact while pulling the SD card out enough to boot to the bootloader without it automatically picking up the PG86IMG.zip. Once you get into the bootloader you can select the recovery option and quickly slide the SD card back into place along with the battery once it reboots. It's annoying, it's hard to do right, but it's not too bad. And it's a way to access the recovery if you're without a computer and stuck with a PG86IMG.zip on your SD card.

Again, not sure if this has been said before or it's common knowledge, but I figure I'd put it out there in case someone ever runs across this problem. It sure helped me out and I'll probably use it again in the future sometime.
 
Here's another method that works if you have your A/C charger and USB cable handy.

No physical dexterity required. ;)

ramjet73

That's an excellent method. I can't believe I hadn't thought of that before. Wouldn't have helped me today since I didn't even have a charger handy, but that's a heck of a lot simpler.
 
Heh. That Aroma file manager in that post is a great idea. Im surprised there isnt more basic functions inside 4ext, Such as cut copy paste create and delete.

Does this still work today with todays stuff?
 
Heh. That Aroma file manager in that post is a great idea. Im surprised there isnt more basic functions inside 4ext, Such as cut copy paste create and delete.

Does this still work today with todays stuff?
Yea, the Aroma File Manager works with any recovery, even the text based versions, since it has touch screen drivers built-in.

4EXT will probably have file management and many other new features when the next generation is released just like TWRP2 does today. The current version of TWRP2 even supports ADB sideload and OTG hosting for USB devices.

ramjet73
 
I too had been through this recently with PG86IMG, erased OS and tried installing new ROM but it would go through all the steps to install correctly in the end onto SD. That left me stuck with Bootloader as I am all day at work.
 
I also had a similar issue like that happen to me a couple of days ago, when I forgot to delete a PG86IMG.zip on the root of the SD card after trying out a few radios and firmware.

When I rebooted, the recovery was locked down tight, thanks to the bootloader constantly updating with that damned file and I ended up being stuck in a bootloop. :(

I had to wait until I got home from work to delete it using my laptop. I was stuck without my phone the whole day. Lesson learned, the HARD way.
 
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