I ran a number of trials tonight, to try and verify different recovery/rollback scenarios.
Some succeeded, some failed. See the summary, and the details if you are interested.
[SIZE=+1](No, none of this applies to leak ROMs; please don't ask.)[/SIZE]
There are only a couple of tidbits of new information here; I am providing this report mostly for informational purposes. Hopefully this will assist some in either bolstering their confidence about certain results reported elsewhere - or confirm their suspicions about others.
Summary of Results:
- Re-Root already Rooted Phone: SUCCESS
- Rollback from Root-ROM state to 1.5 using MR2 PB00IMG.ZIP: FAIL
- Manual rollback to 1.5 from Root-ROM state: SUCCESS
- OTA-2.1 Update from Manual 1.5 rollback state: SUCCESS
- Rollback to 1.5 from OTA-2.1 using MR2 PB00IMG.ZIP: FAIL
- Root phone from OTA-2.1 in "standard" fashion: SUCCESS
Conclusions:
(1)
The Root-ROM is your friend. Use it for disasters not involving the leak bootloader.
(2)
There is a report on this board somewhere that indicates that you can simply use the MR2 RUU Utility to rollback an OTA-2.1 phone to 1.5. I am suspicious of this result.
(3)
Likewise, there is no reason to believe that the MR2 RUU can be used to roll back a root-ROM to 1.5. In fact, this is a hazardous operation in the hands of a neophyte, because it results in a phone with a S-ON bootloader, and possibly no Amon_RA recovery present, either. (Fortunately, this state can be repaired with re-application of the Root-ROM)
(4)
Rooting of OTA-2.1 in the "standard" fashion is confirmed.
[SIZE=+2]Details[/SIZE]
[SIZE=+1]Before Starting: Nandroid Backup![/SIZE]
======
[SIZE=+1]Trial 1: Restore Root ROM Condition From any Rooted ROM[/SIZE]
Method: Using Root-ROM PB00IMG.ZIP on SD card root, Vol-Down+End/Power
MD5 Checksums:
- (Root-ROM) PB00IMG.ZIP 63eacc5ede3b179f95dc22d8ef585f94
Starting Conditions:
- hboot: S-OFF 1.49.2000
- radio: 2.42.00.04.12
- recovery: Amon_RA v1.62
- OS: Official_1.0_OC
Result: [SIZE=+1]Success[/SIZE]
======
[SIZE=+1]Trial 2: Restore to MR2 (1.5 v 1.17.605.1) from Rooted ROM[/SIZE]
Method: Using MR2 PB00IMG.ZIP on SD card root, Vol-Down+End/Power
MD5 Checksums:
- MR2 rom.zip (aka PB00IMG.ZIP) 9e9ad31f01bbcb05157443287f4f38dd
Starting Conditions:
- hboot: S-OFF 1.49.2000
- radio: 2.40.00.01.22
- recovery: root-ROM
- OS: root-ROM
Result: [SIZE=+1]FAILURE - After 1.47.0000 hboot is restored[/SIZE]
The failure message is the usual one: "Main Version is older!"
Note this interesting and slightly frightening result: The "update" actually starts by successfully flashing the 1.47.0000 bootloader, but then fails after the reboot - this leaves the phone in an unusual state: A S-ON bootloader, but a "rooted" engineering ROM... and without a Amon-RA recovery partition. Uh-oh...
======
[SIZE=+1]Emergency 3: Attempt to restore root-ROM from FuBar state 2[/SIZE]
Method: Using Root-ROM PB00IMG.ZIP on SD card root, Vol-Down+End/Power
MD5 Checksums:
- (Root-ROM) PB00IMG.ZIP 63eacc5ede3b179f95dc22d8ef585f94
Starting Conditions:
- hboot: S-ON 1.47.0000
- radio: 2.40.00.01.22
- recovery: root-ROM
- OS: root-ROM
Result: [SIZE=+1]Success - Whew![/SIZE]
======
[SIZE=+1]Trial 4: Manual restore to MR2 from state 3 (Root-ROM) [/SIZE]
Method: Install Amon_RA recovery; Unpack MR2 ROM PB00IMG.ZIP and manually
install using combination of adb and fastboot.
This method is NOT FOR NOOBS - that's why detailed instructions are not given.
Outline of method:
- Install Amon_RA recovery
- Unpack MR2 PB00IMG.ZIP
- push boot.img, recovery.img, system.img, and userdata.img to folder on SD
- Boot to Amon_RA, start root shell with adb shell
- mount /sdcard
- for /data and /system: mount, erase, unyaffs, unmount (Danger lurks here)
- for boot and recovery partitions, use flash_image
- unmount /sdcard, exit shell
- reboot phone to fastboot-USB state
- from PC, use fastboot to flash radio.img, and hboot_7501a_1.47.0000_091023.nb0
- reboot phone
MD5 Checksums:
- (MR2-ROM) PB00IMG.ZIP 9e9ad31f01bbcb05157443287f4f38dd
contents:
4bc51796c9353efcaeb688bfb2cf54da boot.img
38899da4e5e002e3be22900f5f4eb6f7 hboot_7501a_1.47.0000_091023.nb0
643ce1350c9157501014b5b29cb5e30d nv_1.85.nb
4420cd2760548f56f737c23528fa251d radio.img
71a4b633bdb32de9dcdd8953fef43cdc recovery.img
d3d36f3b9a12d791a79a8135ced07c8f system.img
e0f6d36dfe808e00e3a5794158ec1a8c userdata.img
Starting Conditions:
- hboot: S-OFF 1.49.2000
- radio: 2.40.00.01.22
- recovery: root-ROM
- OS: root-ROM
Result: [SIZE=+1]Success [/SIZE]
Note: This creates an unconfigured MR2 phone, aka 1.5 v1.17.605.1
Booted phone. Got Waving Androids with short audio clip
Goes to "White HTC logo on Black Background with moving highlights". Wait.
No service on black background
Sense Starts up
Unlock Screen
HTC Logo still showing - wait.
"Select your language" shows up - and almost immediately, "System Update Available" in the status bar.
Note: Through all of this, the phone does not need Activation, but only Setup.
Settings->About phone->System updates (accept)
Wait for download - 77 MB
Wait for verify - 77 MB
Accept Install (reboot happens)
Wait for image of open box w/yellow arrow and phone, watch yellow progress bar crawl across screen
When the yellow bar gets to just above the "Back" softkey, it seems to hang - for several minutes!. Leave phone alone, this is normal!
After this step completes, phone goes black, and for a short period of time, a new graphic shows up - a different "open box with a yellow arrow".
Then the phone reboots again, and yet a third update graphic shows up (phone lying down with a green circle/arrows above it - kind of looks like a "recycling" symbol) - briefly.
Finally, the skating androids re-appear, followed by an HTC graphic, followed by Verizon animated splash, followed by Verizon wireless (static) image.
For grins, I did a factory reset at this point
======
[SIZE=+1]Trial 5: Attempt restore to MR2 from OTA-2.1[/SIZE]
Method: Using MR2 PB00IMG.ZIP on SD card root, Vol-Down+End/Power
MD5 Checksums:
- (MR2-ROM) PB00IMG.ZIP 9e9ad31f01bbcb05157443287f4f38dd
Starting Conditions:
- hboot: S-ON 1.47.0000
- radio: 2.42.00.04.12
- recovery: OTA-2.1
- OS: OTA-2.1
Result: [SIZE=+1]FAIL! "Main Version is Older"[/SIZE]
Note that this result is slightly different than before where we saw this failure: this time, the version check causes a fail BEFORE the bootloader is installed.
In a way, that's better; nothing was touched. Let's check something else
======
[SIZE=+1]Trial 7: Attempt to root OTA-2.1 with "standard" method[/SIZE]
Method: Using Root PB00IMG.ZIP on SD card root, Vol-Down+End/Power
MD5 Checksums:
- (Root-ROM) PB00IMG.ZIP 63eacc5ede3b179f95dc22d8ef585f94
Starting Conditions:
- hboot: S-ON 1.47.0000
- radio: 2.42.00.04.12
- recovery: OTA-2.1
- OS: OTA-2.1
Result: [SIZE=+1]SUCCESS![/SIZE]
Some succeeded, some failed. See the summary, and the details if you are interested.
[SIZE=+1](No, none of this applies to leak ROMs; please don't ask.)[/SIZE]
There are only a couple of tidbits of new information here; I am providing this report mostly for informational purposes. Hopefully this will assist some in either bolstering their confidence about certain results reported elsewhere - or confirm their suspicions about others.
Summary of Results:
- Re-Root already Rooted Phone: SUCCESS
- Rollback from Root-ROM state to 1.5 using MR2 PB00IMG.ZIP: FAIL
- Manual rollback to 1.5 from Root-ROM state: SUCCESS
- OTA-2.1 Update from Manual 1.5 rollback state: SUCCESS
- Rollback to 1.5 from OTA-2.1 using MR2 PB00IMG.ZIP: FAIL
- Root phone from OTA-2.1 in "standard" fashion: SUCCESS
Conclusions:
(1)
The Root-ROM is your friend. Use it for disasters not involving the leak bootloader.
(2)
There is a report on this board somewhere that indicates that you can simply use the MR2 RUU Utility to rollback an OTA-2.1 phone to 1.5. I am suspicious of this result.
(3)
Likewise, there is no reason to believe that the MR2 RUU can be used to roll back a root-ROM to 1.5. In fact, this is a hazardous operation in the hands of a neophyte, because it results in a phone with a S-ON bootloader, and possibly no Amon_RA recovery present, either. (Fortunately, this state can be repaired with re-application of the Root-ROM)
(4)
Rooting of OTA-2.1 in the "standard" fashion is confirmed.
[SIZE=+2]Details[/SIZE]
[SIZE=+1]Before Starting: Nandroid Backup![/SIZE]
======
[SIZE=+1]Trial 1: Restore Root ROM Condition From any Rooted ROM[/SIZE]
Method: Using Root-ROM PB00IMG.ZIP on SD card root, Vol-Down+End/Power
MD5 Checksums:
- (Root-ROM) PB00IMG.ZIP 63eacc5ede3b179f95dc22d8ef585f94
Starting Conditions:
- hboot: S-OFF 1.49.2000
- radio: 2.42.00.04.12
- recovery: Amon_RA v1.62
- OS: Official_1.0_OC
Result: [SIZE=+1]Success[/SIZE]
======
[SIZE=+1]Trial 2: Restore to MR2 (1.5 v 1.17.605.1) from Rooted ROM[/SIZE]
Method: Using MR2 PB00IMG.ZIP on SD card root, Vol-Down+End/Power
MD5 Checksums:
- MR2 rom.zip (aka PB00IMG.ZIP) 9e9ad31f01bbcb05157443287f4f38dd
Starting Conditions:
- hboot: S-OFF 1.49.2000
- radio: 2.40.00.01.22
- recovery: root-ROM
- OS: root-ROM
Result: [SIZE=+1]FAILURE - After 1.47.0000 hboot is restored[/SIZE]
The failure message is the usual one: "Main Version is older!"
Note this interesting and slightly frightening result: The "update" actually starts by successfully flashing the 1.47.0000 bootloader, but then fails after the reboot - this leaves the phone in an unusual state: A S-ON bootloader, but a "rooted" engineering ROM... and without a Amon-RA recovery partition. Uh-oh...
======
[SIZE=+1]Emergency 3: Attempt to restore root-ROM from FuBar state 2[/SIZE]
Method: Using Root-ROM PB00IMG.ZIP on SD card root, Vol-Down+End/Power
MD5 Checksums:
- (Root-ROM) PB00IMG.ZIP 63eacc5ede3b179f95dc22d8ef585f94
Starting Conditions:
- hboot: S-ON 1.47.0000
- radio: 2.40.00.01.22
- recovery: root-ROM
- OS: root-ROM
Result: [SIZE=+1]Success - Whew![/SIZE]
======
[SIZE=+1]Trial 4: Manual restore to MR2 from state 3 (Root-ROM) [/SIZE]
Method: Install Amon_RA recovery; Unpack MR2 ROM PB00IMG.ZIP and manually
install using combination of adb and fastboot.
This method is NOT FOR NOOBS - that's why detailed instructions are not given.
Outline of method:
- Install Amon_RA recovery
- Unpack MR2 PB00IMG.ZIP
- push boot.img, recovery.img, system.img, and userdata.img to folder on SD
- Boot to Amon_RA, start root shell with adb shell
- mount /sdcard
- for /data and /system: mount, erase, unyaffs, unmount (Danger lurks here)
- for boot and recovery partitions, use flash_image
- unmount /sdcard, exit shell
- reboot phone to fastboot-USB state
- from PC, use fastboot to flash radio.img, and hboot_7501a_1.47.0000_091023.nb0
- reboot phone
MD5 Checksums:
- (MR2-ROM) PB00IMG.ZIP 9e9ad31f01bbcb05157443287f4f38dd
contents:
4bc51796c9353efcaeb688bfb2cf54da boot.img
38899da4e5e002e3be22900f5f4eb6f7 hboot_7501a_1.47.0000_091023.nb0
643ce1350c9157501014b5b29cb5e30d nv_1.85.nb
4420cd2760548f56f737c23528fa251d radio.img
71a4b633bdb32de9dcdd8953fef43cdc recovery.img
d3d36f3b9a12d791a79a8135ced07c8f system.img
e0f6d36dfe808e00e3a5794158ec1a8c userdata.img
Starting Conditions:
- hboot: S-OFF 1.49.2000
- radio: 2.40.00.01.22
- recovery: root-ROM
- OS: root-ROM
Result: [SIZE=+1]Success [/SIZE]
Note: This creates an unconfigured MR2 phone, aka 1.5 v1.17.605.1
Booted phone. Got Waving Androids with short audio clip
Goes to "White HTC logo on Black Background with moving highlights". Wait.
No service on black background
Sense Starts up
Unlock Screen
HTC Logo still showing - wait.
"Select your language" shows up - and almost immediately, "System Update Available" in the status bar.
Note: Through all of this, the phone does not need Activation, but only Setup.
Settings->About phone->System updates (accept)
Wait for download - 77 MB
Wait for verify - 77 MB
Accept Install (reboot happens)
Wait for image of open box w/yellow arrow and phone, watch yellow progress bar crawl across screen
When the yellow bar gets to just above the "Back" softkey, it seems to hang - for several minutes!. Leave phone alone, this is normal!
After this step completes, phone goes black, and for a short period of time, a new graphic shows up - a different "open box with a yellow arrow".
Then the phone reboots again, and yet a third update graphic shows up (phone lying down with a green circle/arrows above it - kind of looks like a "recycling" symbol) - briefly.
Finally, the skating androids re-appear, followed by an HTC graphic, followed by Verizon animated splash, followed by Verizon wireless (static) image.
For grins, I did a factory reset at this point
======
[SIZE=+1]Trial 5: Attempt restore to MR2 from OTA-2.1[/SIZE]
Method: Using MR2 PB00IMG.ZIP on SD card root, Vol-Down+End/Power
MD5 Checksums:
- (MR2-ROM) PB00IMG.ZIP 9e9ad31f01bbcb05157443287f4f38dd
Starting Conditions:
- hboot: S-ON 1.47.0000
- radio: 2.42.00.04.12
- recovery: OTA-2.1
- OS: OTA-2.1
Result: [SIZE=+1]FAIL! "Main Version is Older"[/SIZE]
Note that this result is slightly different than before where we saw this failure: this time, the version check causes a fail BEFORE the bootloader is installed.
In a way, that's better; nothing was touched. Let's check something else
======
[SIZE=+1]Trial 7: Attempt to root OTA-2.1 with "standard" method[/SIZE]
Method: Using Root PB00IMG.ZIP on SD card root, Vol-Down+End/Power
MD5 Checksums:
- (Root-ROM) PB00IMG.ZIP 63eacc5ede3b179f95dc22d8ef585f94
Starting Conditions:
- hboot: S-ON 1.47.0000
- radio: 2.42.00.04.12
- recovery: OTA-2.1
- OS: OTA-2.1
Result: [SIZE=+1]SUCCESS![/SIZE]